


Nocturne

by iamleegracey



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-17 14:30:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 46,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9329057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamleegracey/pseuds/iamleegracey
Summary: It was rather an uneventful day, as the “seniors”, or what had been left of the original 50 kids, were told to prepare for their upcoming Final Examination, an event that is usually feared by all students. But in that damned school where Kim Sunggyu had been trapped for more than half of his life, the fear of failing the examination doesn’t come with the failure of entering a prestigious or decent university, nor does it promise a dimly lit future ahead of you.Failure to pass the final examination only meant one thing.Death.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Edited, revised and added necessary scenes to avoid confusion and loopholes. Originally posted in AFF.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/15/2017: Proofread, revised and edited grammatical errors

Nocturne (n.)

  1. A scene of the night.
  2. A piece of music especially for the piano that has a soft and somewhat sad melody



 

“Nocturne? What do you mean?”

“Nocturne. A scene of a night. Or maybe a music with a sad tune.”

“And what does that have to do with me? Us?”

He chuckled lightly, not bothering to look at the other as his eyes focused on the empty school grounds that looked ironically peaceful under the night sky, the blood stains and other things from previous “ ** _exams”_** concealed through the darkness as the moon chose not to graze his ethereal light on a forbidden and forsaken ground. It took another moment or two before he responded once more.

“Somehow, I think it’s fitting for our final examination. A sad tune in the middle of the night.”

* * *

 

It had been a few nights after that conversation with Myungsoo. Sunggyu had almost forgotten the rare encounter. He had always thought Myungsoo was a dangerous **_classmate_** , a dangerous opponent in an equally dangerous game they play in an arena of life and death well concealed in a façade of a school. Those cold, hard and piercing eyes and stoic demeanor made it difficult for anyone, not even the **_instructors_** , to decipher what’s running on that twisted mind of his. He could still remember how a 7-year-old Myungsoo easily decapitated the head of a senior, an 18-year-old senior, an 18-year-old senior who survived all of the final examinations and just waiting to march out to the real world to be an assassin, single handedly in a matter of seconds.

It still sent shivers down his spine whenever he remembers it.

In actuality, Kim Sunggyu had never thought less of his other **_classmates_** ; everyone, for him, was as dangerous as Myungsoo. Everyone can be a threat to his life, as he was to his fellow classmates.

It was rather an uneventful day, as the “seniors”, or what had been left of the original 50 kids, were told to prepare for their upcoming **_Final Examination_** , an event that is usually feared by all students. But in that damned school where Kim Sunggyu had been trapped for more than half of his life, the fear of failing the examination doesn’t come with the failure of entering a prestigious or decent university, nor does it promise a dimly lit future ahead of you.

Failure to pass the final examination only meant one thing.

Death.

Yes. Death. Every year they had to endure the sadistic final examination all throughout their school life where they had to endure physical and mental training, only to apply what you learn to the kids you were with while you’re growing up, kids that sit with you through the lessons, kids you used to share lunch, or kids who let you copy assignments from. Kids who shared the same dream as you do, to escape the living hell they were trapped in.

Sunggyu had lost all his friends, to the point that he stopped making one. Don't get him wrong, but what's the use of making friends when you have to kill them or watch them get killed anyway? And he vividly remembers how they got killed, from Jonghwan in first grade to Minsoo in sixth grade, all of them got killed in the most gruesome and violent way possible. And ironically, always only one person kills all his friends.

Ah, and how could he even forget this person? This person who hides his intentions with an adorable eye smile, this person who conceals his true colors with greasy pick-up lines and cheesy grins, this person who turns into a killing beast in a blink of an eye, this person who everyone claims as the devil incarnate, this person who everyone fears-and yes even the scary and intimidating Kim Myungsoo avoids him at any cost.

This person who makes Sunggyu shiver with just a second of eye contact.

And this person is named Nam Woohyun who is currently eyeing him with that too good to be true smile from the other side of the room. He felt so scared that he's watching him as if he's going to be his next prey after all his friends got slaughtered. It made him wish to just talk to Myungsoo or just stay beside the stoic boy all day just to avoid Nam Woohyun. 

And so he did.

He gathered all his courage to stand from the chair he had been sitting since the start of another school year, and took shaky steps towards the other corner of the room that is constantly avoided by the rest of the 14 surviving students from his class.

"H-hey."

It seemed like the whole world stopped, and everyone halted from whatever they were doing and opted to watch the first ever student to approach Kim Myungsoo. Sunggyu swallowed hard as he watched how painfully and eerily slow Myungsoo raised his head from his table and when his eyes met the latter's cold and piercing ones, he kind of regretted his decision to approach the guy.

"Yes?"

He took a deep breath and glance a little over his shoulder and he swore the smile Woohyun was wearing faltered for a few seconds before it had somehow turned into a menacing grin and the glint in his eyes had somehow became...scarier and more dangerous than earlier. A cold chuckle made him face Myungsoo again, and Sunggyu literally felt the sadistic shiver radiating from the rest of the other students in the room, whether out of fear or pure amusement he didn't want to know.

A chuckle from Kim Myungsoo only happens before he does one certain thing, based on what Sunggyu had heard. Chuckling is what Myungsoo does before he goes on a killing spree, and he will kill anyone within a foot radius.

Which meant Sunggyu is the one and only victim within the one-foot radius.  

"Final examinations."

"W-what?"

_Oh god, or whatever is up there, this must mean he's gonna kill me during the final examinations...shit shit shi–_

"I always knew you were the cunning one among all our _classmates_." The last word came out as a hiss, pure acid dripping with every syllable that came out from Myungsoo's mouth. Nonetheless, Sunggyu didn't know if he should feel flattered that Myungsoo called him cunning, or that he should be scared for Myungsoo might consider him a rival for being cunning.

"I-I don't know wha–"

"Don't tell me you don't know?" Another chuckle, and another shiver down his spine as his eyes saw how Myungsoo's dark ones radiated violence. "If this is about the final exams, then I commend you for your courage..."

"N-no... I didn't m-mean th-tha–"

"...and cause of that then sure. I agree"

Before Sunggyu could react and voice out his confusion, he heard a crash and when he turned around, the chair and table where Woohyun was sitting earlier was reduced to mere pieces of wood and said person is nowhere to be found.

* * *

"So..."

"So...?"

"Uh about earlier..."

"Nam Woohyun. You're scared of him, aren't you?" Sunggyu had to bit his lower lip and look away from the curious eyes staring through him.

"N-no..I..."

He heard Myungsoo chuckle once more and he felt all the blood drained from his face. He vowed he'll never ever like that chuckle from Myungsoo. It reminds his of a maniac who enjoys killing people whenever he wants to.

Oh wait...

"I was...wondering about the other night." Sunggyu manage to stop choking and stuttering, what the hell he killed kids his age for so long and here he is stuttering in front of Myungsoo like a lovesick teenage girl. "You know, about Nocturne and all those you said about the final exams..."

"Ah, that. I thought you already know. Maybe you're not as sly and cunning as I thought." Well that was a low blow. "Final exams will be next week, and for the first time in the history of this sadistic school, it’s going to be held at night, and the arena will be all around the school, not just that bloodbath of a school ground, and guess what? They'll let us choose which weapons we'd like to use."

"O-oh...so that's how it is. Nocturne. Another word for night. But I don't get why you said it's supposed to be sad."

"Why do you think?"

"I don't really..."

"Alliances. The exams won't be a one on one battle to the top anymore. They wanted the students to form an alliance only to kill them off in the end." Sunggyu blinked, slowly digesting the words he just heard. Then, maybe it really is sad. But he isn't sure, it had been long since he felt how to be sad. He only knew one feeling anyway.

Fear.

"Imagine it, you forming tight bonds with your so called team until you kill the opponents only to turn them as your own opponents later on. It's sick, really."

"Well, at least you'll get to work with them?"

Myungsoo laughed, and this time it was pure amazement. "Damn Sunggyu, I still wonder how you managed to escape all those battles with that mindset of yours. Oh right, cause you're cunning. Very cunning indeed. At one point I was scared of you. Especially on middle school final exam, when you made that bulky kid, what's his name, ah Youngguk, believe that he has the upper hand and when he felt all tired and shit, you just had to blow it off and kill him with a flick of your wrist and a knife he was going to use against you."

Was he even that cunning that he didn't realized it? Well maybe he is, but maybe it's his natural instinct guiding him how to live. But all that thought was pushed aside when he realized that Myungsoo was a tad scared of him. Well, what do you know, the fearless guy fears someone.

"N-no, I meant, you'll get to work with them... Earn their trust, or maybe a little, then know their strengths and weaknesses, and use it to your advantage on the final battle. You know, keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"Wow. This is why I'm scared of you Kim Sunggyu." Myungsoo said with that scary glint in his eyes. Then he suddenly stood from where they were sitting in the roof top, just in time to see someone practicing their killing skills on the school grounds. At least, one opponent down.

"You know, I'm starting to realize that maybe this whole naïveté of yours along with this alliance is just a scheme. Kinda like hitting two birds with one stone."

Sunggyu blinked, tilting his head in confusion as Myungsoo cocked his head down towards the school ground. He followed slowly, turning his head and he felt his blood turn cold when he realized that it was Nam Woohyun who killed that student who now had his body parts scattered all over the place. But that's not the terrifying part.

Woohyun's eyes were void of anything but lust. A lust for killing. And it was directed to Sunggyu.

Or that's what he thought.

"Wh-what...what do you mean?"

"Me and Woohyun."

Sunggyu turned to look at Myungsoo who was smirking down at Woohyun. Ah, so it wasn't him who Woohyun was staring at. "I still don't..."

"But it's ok. I'll play along with your game. It's like how you said..." Myungsoo smirked, all playfulness gone only to be replaced by a menacing look that made Sunggyu step back a bit.

"Keep your friends close..." Myungsoo stepped forward and instinctively Sunggyu stepped back. " ** _And your enemies closer_**."

And with that Myungsoo was gone.

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/15/2017: Proofread and revised grammatical errors.

Fear. Too much fear.

Sunggyu didn't know that he would feel too much fear right now. Everything that Myungsoo said had been correct, final examinations were indeed a team exam, Team A and Team B, and that it would be at night and the whole school would be the arena. This had to be the most sadistic idea they had ever heard from this school.

But nothing beats the fear he's feeling now that he sat in front of his so called 'team'. There were already 6 of them, they were formed when the instructor drew names from the cursed box, and since the class is composed of 13 students, there would be an uneven number of members in both teams. His eyes scanned his current group; currently he's with that effeminate boy who's very good at playing mind games with his opponents, that tall, enigmatic lad who has expertise on strategizing and planning surprise attacks, then that smiling boy with a shock of blue hair who confuses Sunggyu whether he’s a genius or an idiot. He’s also teammates with that athletic boy that can sense danger and is as cunning and sly as Sunggyu -that's according to Myungsoo. Oh, and of course Myungsoo. He didn't know whether he should be happy or not that Myungsoo sitting on his right with eyes that glinted mischievousness and lips curved into a sadistic smirk was in the same team as him.

"Well, wouldn't it be fun if he joins us, right Sunggyu?" Myungsoo snickered and Sunggyu chose to ignore the former, his breath became uneven and ragged as he avoided to look at the student in front, the last lucky student who has the privilege to choose which team he should join, hoping to all gods or whatever deity up there that this student won't pick his team. Dealing with one psychopath killer -and no he's just an ordinary killer so he himself doesn't count- is already driving him to the edge and dealing with another one is too much already. He's had it with Myungsoo's snarky comments and sarcastic jokes that he didn't know whether the kid meant them or not. Especially jokes about him getting killed. His train of thoughts was disturbed when their instructor suddenly spoke with that deep, cold voice of his.

"Well, Nam Woohyun, which team should you be in?"

"I'll bet you that head of that slut Jung’s he'll pick our team." Sunggyu ignored the taunting voice of Myungsoo and closed his eyes tightly. Time seemed to stop, and all he could hear was the ragged and uneven beating of his heart while his mind chanted 'not team A, please not team A' repeatedly, and the only regret he did was he looked up just in time to meet those luring orbs and all his senses had gone haywire. The annoying smirk and those wild eyes were a giveaway, and Sunggyu knew he was dead meat. 

"Team A."

* * *

"...and remember, you're not allowed to kill your team mates until you kill off all the members from the other team. Starting today, no one's allowed to kill anybody from the class. Failure to follow this simple instruction leads to a sanction." The instructor sneered, his face full of malice before he went out of the classroom with a chuckle.

"Well what a pity, and here I thought I could kill pretty face." Woohyun muttered as soon as the instructor went out, his hands playing with a pocket knife. Myungsoo snickered, his feet propped up on the table and his eyes locked on Woohyun.

"Well, why don't you try then? I'm sure you liked having those _sanctions_ anyway." He didn't even flinch when Woohyun's knife went passed his face, missing his right ear with just a mere centimeter. A soft thump echoed through the now still and quiet room as the knife ended up stuck on the wall behind Myungsoo. A soft chuckle came from Myungsoo as he wiped the blood slowly trickling from the cut on his cheek. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're _jealous_ , Nam Woohyun."

Woohyun made a move to stand as well as Myungsoo, but Sunggyu quickly beat them to it. "Y-yah, we're a team here..."

"...for the meantime." It was the first time Sunggyu heard that effeminate boy, Lee Sungjong. His voice was calming yet eerie at the same time, as if it was missing something. Actually, it was missing everything. It was too empty and void of any emotions. Sunggyu made a mental note not to make the kid talk a lot.

"E-excuse me?"

"What he's trying to say is that we're a team for the meantime. Besides, who died and made you the leader?" That athletic kid, Lee Howon or popularly known as Hoya, piped up, his eyes alert and focused as he scrutinized Sunggyu, and the latter hated it. It was like he was a test subject for Hoya's experiment, and Sunggyu decided that Hoya must be looking for his strengths and weaknesses. And fuck, he just had to show his stuttering tendencies because Nam fucking Woohyun is picking up a fight with Kim Myungsoo.

"I-I'm just..."

"Give the boy a break, Hoya." The blue haired boy winked and smiled at Sunggyu, and Sunggyu thought he's starting to like this boy and considered the option of befriending his only if he wasn't reminded that this boy killed at least hundreds of kids already. "I'm Jang Dongwoo, and sorry about Hoya, it's his time of the month."

Sunggyu nodded lightly, wondering how Dongwoo can still smile that brightly after getting locked here for the past 18 years. Then he heard Woohyun snorted and Hoya quickly turned his head to the former's direction. Well, shit. Woohyun's mouth will bring him his death, that Sunggyu is very sure of. He doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut and if he still doesn't, he's sure their team will be one member less by the end of the day.

"Sunggyu is right. We're a team, and it doesn't help us survive the first half of the examination if we lose three members before the exam. We obviously have the upper hand since we outnumbered them, but the advantage is very slim." The tall guy spoke and that obviously caught everyone's attention. "If we want to survive, we have to plan things, and Hoya killing Woohyun killing Myungsoo is clearly not a part of the plan."

"Then let's hear your mighty plan then, Lee Sungyeol." Myungsoo spoke and it made Sunggyu sit again, sensing that Sungyeol caught everyone's attention. At least Hoya's and Myungsoo's and even the uninterested Sungjong had leaned forward a bit and showed interest. He just hoped that Nam Woohyun won't decide to be the attention whore he is and interrupt their progress.

"Well, here's the plan..."

"So, shall I bring Jessica Jung's head to your locker later since Woohyun chose our team?" Myungsoo hissed with mirth laced in his voice, making Sunggyu glare at him and with all the courage the latter mustered he muttered.

"Fuck off, Myungsoo."

* * *

“God damn it.” Sunggyu muttered as soon as he opened his locker to find Jessica Jung’s head nicely placed on top of his things with her eyes closed and mouth opened in an ‘O’ shaped, as if gagged by something big. As soon as he recovered from his initial shock, he quickly shut his locker and stomped towards the classroom and towards Myungsoo who was unusually awake.

“Liked your present?” He said with a chuckle as he easily dodged a lame and half meant punch from Sunggyu. “You have to do better than that if you want to kill me.” Myungsoo said as Sunggyu glared and sat beside the former. Why, he didn’t know.

“How?”

“She offered to blow me.” Myungsoo shrugged nonchalantly. “Then I remembered my _promise_ and I let her. Stupid bitch didn’t know how to keep her guard even while giving head.”

Oh. So that was the _big_ thing that seemed to gag Jessica’s mouth. It really is _big_.

“Oh.”

Myungsoo looked at him and instantly smirked at Sunggyu’s expression.

“What are you thinking?” Sunggyu wanted to wipe that arrogant smirk off of Myungsoo’s face and he knew the other was messing up with him. He decided to avoid his stare and will away the blush starting to form on his cheeks.

“N-nothing…”

“So…why are you sitting here? Do you want Nam Woohyun to scratch my other cheek this time?”

“Yesterday was not my fault, Myungsoo. We both know you just had to ignite his…passion for killing.” Sunggyu said as he eyed some of his classmates who started coming inside, and only on that time was he able finally took notice of them.

“Well, it’s not like I did anything to ignite this _passion_ of his to kill me.” Myungsoo muttered, though his eyes followed Sunggyu’s line of vision.

“So are you saying I’m the one at fault?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re being ridiculous.” Sunggyu muttered. “Hey, that tall guy, was he really a part of our class?”

“Who? Ah, Huang Zitao. He just arrived here last year. I heard from the instructors he’s the only survivor from his clan’s massacre.” Myungsoo said, and it never failed to amuse Sunggyu on how Myungsoo knows these kinds of things from their classmates.

“Ah, I see. He must be lucky to survive his first battle exam last year.”

“Lucky is a bit of an understatement for him. Inside that boy is a monster just like all of us. You wouldn’t expect those bastards to put an innocent teenager in this school, do you? Weren’t you there when he decided to go overboard and took his opponent’s heart after the instructors declared his victory?”

“Oh, maybe I was busy surviving my own battle.” Sunggyu replied sarcastically, but deep inside Myungsoo’s story sent warning signals to his brain about this Huang Zitao. He must avoid this person as much as possible. His silence though didn’t stop Myungsoo from talking. Really this guy, once he started talking he just can’t stop. Or maybe he really wanted to talk, but everyone was too intimidated by his demeanor.

“He’s sick. I have heard from Sungyeol that he takes organs from all of his opponents as a remembrance. A _motherfucking_ remembrance. Even Woohyun and I wouldn’t go that far. Surviving the battle is enough for me, I don’t need a fucking remembrance to remember who was the student I killed to have another shot at life. This is why I have a feeling that what happened to his clan wasn’t a work of an outsider but he himself did it.”

“You don’t strike me as the gossip kind.” Sunggyu said and Myungsoo laughed as propped his legs on the chair once more.

“Well, it’s just like how you said, and let me quote it, _keep your friends close and your enemies closer_. I just wanted to have enough knowledge on a potential opponent.”

“Well, that’s too much information Myungsoo.”

“Information is important, whether it’s too much or too less, especially for us. Have you been sleeping on Tactics classes?”

“It is important if it is reliable.” Sunggyu countered, his eyes finally leaving Huang Zitao and facing Myungsoo. “Say, before I forget, yesterday about the sanctions…”

“Did you kill someone?” Sunggyu chuckled and shook his head.

“No, but I’ve never heard about this sanction before…”

“Oh. Usually these sanctions only apply to people who always go overboard…”

“Like that Chinese kid?”

“Maybe.”

“How about you?”

“Me?” Sunggyu nodded and tilted his head innocently, his small eyes enveloped with curiosity. If this sanction applies to all people who go overboard then that must mean someone like Myungsoo who always appears to go overboard must have experienced this kind of sanction before.

“Well, I did, a few times and to tell you frankly, I don’t want to experience it again.”

“Why?”

“Do you really wanna know?” Sunggyu nodded and Myungsoo leaned close, too close for Sunggyu’s comfort. The former could literary feel Myungsoo’s hot breath fanning his sensitive ear and it made Sunggyu uncomfortable.

“Well, why don’t you try asking Woohyun, he's almost a regular there and it looks like he’s headed here for a little chat. Or maybe some more.” Myungsoo chuckled and backed away and when he looked up Woohyun was indeed in front of them sporting the most menacing glare Sunggyu had ever seen from the guy.

Myungsoo grinned, lowering his legs from where it was propped up from a chair and looked up to Woohyun to meet his glare. “What a pleasant surprise, _Woohyun hyung_ , what brings you here? Oh, how rude of me, why don’t you take a seat?”

Myungsoo suddenly kicked the chair a bit too hard, sending it to Woohyun with a deafening screech, and the latter stopped it solely by his right foot. Sunggyu was sure it would definitely hurt if a body part gets hit by that pushed chair, and he was sure that foot of Woohyun is hurting like hell but the guy isn’t even flinching. In fact, he was making himself comfortable on the chair.

“I thought I made myself clear to you last night, _Myungsoo_.” Woohyun growled lowly as he crossed his legs and leaned back on the chair. Sunggyu could feel the tension, and if he could, he would want to escape the situation, only he can’t because he knew one wrong move and it might be over for him and Myungsoo as well.

“Ah… _Woohyun hyung_ , I was just being nice with Sunggyu here…in fact I was being very nice that I told Sunggyu to approach you instead. I told him you don’t’ bite…well not that hard, right?” Hyung? When did these two started calling each other on a first name basis? And fuck, what did he meant when Woohyun doesn’t bite too hard? That guy tears with his fangs, he _definitely_ doesn’t bite hard at all.

“Ah, is that so…” Sunggyu blinked for a second and he thought he was hallucinating, because gone was the menacing look from Woohyun and it was replaced by a bright smile and the guy was looking at him.

“Well, Sunggyu, what can I do for you?”

Sunggyu felt suffocated as Woohyun averted his eyes on him. This look of Woohyun was definitely similar to how he would look before he kills an opponent. Well at least he shouldn’t be scared because of the no killing anyone rule, but this is Nam Woohyun we’re talking about. This guy is as crazy as Myungsoo, maybe even more, and this guy might have experienced this sanction numerous times already as Myungsoo might have hinted, and therefore he wouldn’t definitely hesitate to break the rule at any given time of the day.

"Um...I was wondering...about the sanction..." Sunggyu said as he avoided looking at Woohyun's smoldering look.

"Oh, the sanction. Did you kill someone?" Woohyun chuckled and looked around the room. "It seems like almost everyone's still alive though..."

"No I didn't kill anyone."

"Right. So why would you wanna know?"

"I was just...curious..." Woohyun chuckled and glanced over at Myungsoo who just shrugged. Then he returned his gaze over to Sunggyu who's still avoiding him and chuckled once more.

"Well, curiosity killed the cat, you know...or in your case curiosity might kill the hamster." Sunggyu felt his cheeks heat up. Did this psychopath of a killer just call him a hamster? He wanted to punch the guy but he just can't, not when his heart is racing like there's no tomorrow.

"I...I'm not a cat. Nor a hamster."

"Fine. Sex."

"W-what?"

"Sex. All the instructors will fuck you so bad for a whole day that you wished they'd just kill you. They won't let you rest until they get satisfied." Woohyun explained as if he it's the most natural thing in the world.

"S-so...that must mean..."

"He's a regular there, right hyung?" Myungsoo snickered and Woohyun let out a chuckle, though it was cold and scary. He glanced at Myungsoo as he leaned back the chair.

"Well, it's not like I can't say the same to you." There was that tensed silence again, and Sunggyu knows just one move may bring these two to slit each other's necks in record time. Why is he always in the middle of this ridiculous rivalry anyway? On second thought, he shouldn't care, after all it gives him the upper hand. Myungsoo and Woohyun killing each other would eliminate two of the most powerful and scariest opponents. So why should he even care?

"Hello guys!" The tensed silence was broken when Dongwoo greeted with his usual high and energetic voice and sat beside Sunggyu. Myungsoo turned to Dongwoo, mustering the coldest glare he could and sending it to Dongwoo who just shrugged it off with a chuckle.

"What the fuck are you doing here on my corner?" Myungsoo growled and Dongwoo just shrugged.

"Well, I thought we're having a group meeting! You know, since Woohyun and Sunggyu are already here." Woohyun laughed and Sunggyu can't help but smile and adore this naïve Dongwoo. He knew this might be bluff but he can't help but cherish the thought that maybe there are still some innocent and pure kids around, like Dongwoo, and it feels refreshing.

Now he wonders how naïve Dongwoo turns into a cold blooded killing machine. After all, it's always the innocent and quiet looking ones who he should be wary of.

"Right, a group meeting. Why don't you be a darling, Dongwoo, and call the others?"

* * *

"Kim Joonmyun. He's probably the leader of Team B." Sungyeol said as they huddled on the supposedly music room of the school. Classes were all cancelled to give the teams a chance to strategize and practice for the exams, and being wary, Team A chose to talk out of the classroom, in fear of Team B analyzing them. Sunggyu was thankful, he felt suffocated with how the other team scrutinizes them.

"Who's Joonmyun?" Woohyun asked as he twirled another pocket knife on his fingers.

"Suho."

"Oh, why him? I think Kai exudes more authority than him."

Sunggyu furrowed his brows and nudged Myungsoo.

"Who's Kai?"

Myungsoo sighed and rolled his eyes. "Kim Jongin."

"Exactly. Let's try to see this in their point of view, Woohyun..." Sungyeol looked up, his eyes meeting Woohyun's lazy ones. "If you were in their shoes, who do you think will be our leader here?"

"I'd say...me or Myungsoo."

"Dickhead." Hoya muttered and Myungsoo chuckled.

"That's correct. Out of instinct, of course we would choose someone who exudes power and authority to be the leader, and because of this, both Myungsoo and Woohyun are targeted first. If the leader dies, the formation and plans get disoriented and so is the team." Sungyeol said as he crossed out Kai's name on the list they have. "But if we made them believe that we choose someone least likely to be the leader, say Sunggyu, it would mess up their minds and they wouldn't know who to target first, the strong members, or the leader who knows the strategies. Do you guys understand now?"

Sunggyu was in awe, so this is Sungyeol in action. Though it had been a blow to his ego to be used as an example to be the least likely to be the leader, it was realistic and reasonable. He himself thought that Team B's leader would be that Jongin kid, but he's definitely wrong. But somehow, somewhere deep in his mind, something's off. The thought was suddenly forgotten when Sungjong spoke.

"So, we're stuck with the same dilemma, who shall we target first, Suho or Kai and Tao?"

"Good question. Who do you think should we target first?"

"Sehun." Sunggyu muttered out of nowhere and everyone looked at him.

"Oh Sehun? Are you out of your mind? He's not even a capable fighter." Woohyun chuckled as well as Myungsoo.

"Hate to admit it but dickhead's right." Oh great, now Myungsoo has a new nickname for Woohyun. "If we would focus more on killing the stronger opponents, it would be easier to defeat them."

"But if you think about it, we might lose members if we focus on killing Tao or Kai first. We would be easily outnumbered and it would be easy for them to kill the remaining living members. Obviously, they would send out Kai or Tao out first to lure us into killing them, but on the other hand, if we made them believe that we're evading them while killing the other members..."

"...then we'll outnumber them and have the upper hand without them knowing." Sungyeol continued with a smirk. "Impressive, Sunggyu. Though heads up guys, especially you Sunggyu." Sunggyu tilted his head and waited as Sungyeol twirled his pen on his dainty and deadly fingers.

"Sehun's a scary opponent as well. He holds grudges, and it's scary when emotions are involved."

"Ah, yes, I remember." Dongwoo chuckled and leaned back on the chair, looking at Sunggyu with amusement in his eyes. "You, my friend, should be careful."

"Why?"

"Remember Luhan from last year?" Everyone seem to caught on the topic except Sunggyu, as they all nodded and smirked, as if excited to see the scene if ever he crosses paths with Sehun. Myungsoo and Hoya wore sadistic smiles; Sungjong looked amused while Woohyun seemed to be in deep thought as if plotting ways on how to kill Sehun before he crosses paths with Sunggyu.

"Yes. Luhan. My last opponent from last year." Sunggyu said, his forehead scrunched. "What does Luhan have to do with me and Sehun?"

"Luhan, oh dear Sunggyu, is Sehun's boyfriend."

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is still my favorite chapter (for obvious reasons) lol. Had this unexplainable shiver whenever I read this chapter.
> 
> 1/15/2017: Added scenes before the start of the exams, added details (trackers and CCTV) and edited grammatical errors.

The last thing Myungsoo remembered was that he was sitting in the cafeteria, eating his lunch with the rest of the seniors when a fog of gas suddenly came through the unusually locked doors. He tried to escape the room, just like how everyone does but he failed to do so because the gas eventually took over his system, knocking him unconscious before he reached the doors. He woke up that night already at the dark and electricity-less school with a bracelet like thing wrapped tightly around his wrist, with his still unconscious team mates beside him.

Upon inspection, Myungsoo and his team mates learned that the bracelet like thing was actually a tracker, a device that would indicate whether they were still alive or not. And they also learned that the tracker cannot be removed, they learned it in an electrifying way.

Now, it had been half an hour since the final exams started, and Team A had been executing their plan perfectly. The school building looks scarier than it is when it's dark, and it gave everyone an aura of danger, not knowing what's waiting for them in the dark.

Myungsoo and Woohyun were, surprisingly, partnered together to round up the 3rd floor of the main building, in hopes of killing at least an opponent. Sungyeol had a hunch that if there was one floor that would be inhabited by any members of Team B, it's the 3rd floor, seeing that Team A chose 2nd floor to serve as their safe zone, and 4th floor was chosen by Team B.

Though, quite honestly, both Myungsoo and Woohyun doubted if they'll really see any single soul in the quiet floor. Their footsteps, though concealed and light, still echoed through the walls and it made the atmosphere tensed. And it caught the attention of a figure perfectly concealed in the dark.

"I doubt we'll even catch a fish here." Woohyun muttered as he irritably scratched the blinking tracker on his wrist. "I think Sungyeol's just plain crazy."

"That or he uses his brains more compared to someone I know." Myungsoo snickered, his eyes squinting, trying to see clearly through the shadows. In his opinion, maybe Sungyeol is indeed crazy. Who, in their right minds, would pair him with Woohyun who everyone knows isn’t really a big fan of him? Myungsoo wouldn’t really agree with the idea, if not for that blow job he got from Sungyeol himself and a promise of greater things if he succeeds with the plan.

He swore that boy knows how to work his mouth, and it’s not just with sweet talking.

He glanced over to Woohyun on the corners of his eyes and smirked as the other's smile faded. Well at least he has the opportunity to piss the older guy without getting himself killed, well not just yet. Unbeknownst to them, someone already wanted to kill them at that exact moment, following them and already waiting for an opening to attack.

"Fuck you."

"No thanks. I don't give free fucks to dickheads who can't even confess their undying love even if it's his last night tonight."

"Shut up...or else I'll make you shut up."

"By what means? Well, since you're not trying to make a move on that sly hamster maybe I should try my luck tonight and fuck him. At least if I die I get to fu–" Myungsoo heard the other growl and before he knew it he was pushed inside a classroom, his breathing blocked as he felt Woohyun's hand closing on his neck tightly. The figure in the shadows grabbed the opportunity quickly, stealthily entering the room and preparing for an unnoticed attack.

"You're really asking for it, aren't you?" Woohyun growled, pushing Myungsoo to the wall and tightening his hand around Myungsoo's neck. Myungsoo choked, trying to struggle as he thought of the idea of begging Woohyun to free him and fuck Sungyeol first, then he will and he swore he really will get back to Woohyun to get himself killed. But his too big of a pride was stopping him.

Both were too preoccupied and unaware to even notice the shadow lurking over them.

"Fuckers..." They both heard someone whisper but they continued their fight, Myungsoo struggling from Woohyun's fatal grip. The shadow quickly made his way behind Woohyun with a rather long and sharp edged sword poised directly above Woohyun's head. He smirked, thinking he'd caught two birds, enormous and dangerous birds to kill that night.

Myungsoo's eyes widened as it met a pair of maniac looking eyes, making him believe that he really did caught both of them off guard. But before the guy could swish his ridiculously long sword, he stiffened and finally fell down, ropes of blood immediately flowing out of his left temple.

"Y-yah...Kyung...soo...dead..." Myungsoo struggled but Woohyun remained still, trying to choke him to death until they both heard footsteps coming in the room.

"Yah, show's over. As much as I want to see both of you killing each other, I don't want to get disqualified as early as this. And look, I get to have the first kill." Woohyun glared at Myungsoo once more before letting go of the latter who coughed hard and tried to regain his steady breathing. He looked up and saw Hoya by the doorframe, polishing his silencer before attaching it to his gun once more. He had a smirk on his mischievous face and he could tell that Hoya was in his league and he was in a roll.

"Fuck, that was so realistic guys. Myungsoo, your comments are epic." Hoya chuckled as Woohyun flipped the former with his middle finger before going out of the room with Myungsoo following close, a look of satisfaction on his face despite being a bit flushed from asphyxiation. Hoya chuckled once more, looking at the now lifeless Do Kyungsoo on the floor, a puddle of blood cradling his head and tracker losing that annoying blinking light.

"Though I think Myungsoo is right, you're one hell of a coward dickhead, Woohyun." Hoya followed the two as Myungsoo snickered. The latter can already taste victory and feel that warm cavern once more, enveloping his cock, or maybe something even more pleasurable. And for once he had the need to thank Woohyun’s great acting skills, or maybe Woohyun’s lack of self-control and possessiveness. Kim Myungsoo will definitely get laid tonight, even if this night is going to be his last night on earth.

Now all he has to do is look for Sungyeol. If he finds him.

* * *

 

"Everything's going well according to the plan, Sungyeol." Sungyeol grunted softly as he sat on the desk while eyeing the disgusting tracker on his right wrist. The room was dimmed, the only light in the room coming from the moonlight filtering through the windows, still not enough to light the whole room. His fingers itched to remove the device on his hand, and it took a great amount of self-control and the memory of that burst of electric shock to stop him from doing so.

"That's great then."

"Well, what's next?" The figure leaning against the walls and obscured by the shadows asked and Sungyeol stopped his fiddling. He looked out the windows and stared at the seemingly peaceful night. Down the school grounds, ten torches were lined up in two rows, and one torch was already lit on the first row.

"One person's dead already..." The person muttered while approaching Sungyeol slowly. "Who do you think is it?"

"Probably someone like Kyungsoo or Lay."

"Liar. We both know Lay's not dead yet." Sungyeol chuckled once more and glanced over the other person and leaned against the window before tossing a vial with a transparent liquid on it. The other caught it easily and stared at it before pocketing it.

"How did you get this?"

“I have my ways. Now off you go and put that troublesome liquid into good use.”

“Whom shall I use this vial with anyway?” The guy asked, patting the potion filled pocket gently. It took a few more seconds before Sungyeol answered while retrieving his gun from his holster. He looked up and smirked before answering.

"Hoya." Sungyeol then cocked his gun. "If everything still goes well with the plan, you'll be able to kill him. And I’m telling you, he isn’t a good target, but it’ll be worth it in the end. All you have to do is gain his trust, if you can that is." The tall lad then played with the gun on his fingers.

“How about Myungsoo? He seems more…I don’t know…qualified and challenging…” Sungyeol’s chuckle slowly, frighteningly died down and his eyes turned into slits as he turned to the person in front of him.

“Don’t lay a finger on him. I dare you and you’ll be the one having that potion down your throat before you could even cock your gun.”

"Oh, getting infatuated by the Kim Myungsoo, I see. Be careful though, I heard he has that kink of decapitating the head of the person blowing him.”

“Well, I still have my head intact, don’t I? And besides, I still have a promise I have to fulfill with the guy, and you know how I hate being indebted with others.” The other then chuckled and turned towards the door before stopping in front of it.

“Oh, by the way... before I forget, why didn't you tell them that it's supposed to be Lay that we should kill?"

"I didn’t want them to bother their minds to think why we should target Lay. You know how thick the skulls are of those guys, especially Nam Woohyun. Stupid guy didn’t even know his object of affection will probably be the death of him. Literally." Sungyeol chuckled leaned back on the wall. "And besides, where's the fun if we don't get to play with their minds as well?"

* * *

Through the stillness of the night, a lively hum echoed through the almost empty and abandoned hallways, breaking the eerie silence enveloping the halls. Dongwoo was practically skipping through the dark hall somewhere in the fourth floor. Their team didn’t have any precise plan, just as long as they avoid Tao and Kai, kill Suho afterwards and let Myungsoo and Woohyun on a rampage, well that was what Sungyeol said to him. Personally.

It was kind of doubtful, how Sungyeol had said this plan to him without the others around, and it might be a trap to get himself killed and rid Sungyeol one opponent in the finals. But he set the thought aside, after all, his goal is to just kill as many opponents as he can and escape this hell of a school he is in. He marched along the corridor leading to the corner leading where the staircase was.

“A girl who looks good in jeans…” He hummed to himself as he passed by the chemistry laboratory and suddenly stopped when he heard some shuffling coming inside the room. He squinted and tried looking for the source of the noise, ignoring the shivers that went up his spine. He may be a cold blooded killer, but all killers and murderers have weaknesses. Like Woohyun’s weakness is Sunggyu, Hoya’s weakness is seeing his own blood while Sungyeol’s weakness is in the form of needles.

It might sound lame, but he has one too. And it might sound stupid, coming from a teenage boy who killed almost a hundred kids his age, but a fear is a fear. Heck, he’s not even scared to fight Myungsoo and Woohyun at the same time unlike the other students’ fear. His fear is stupid and childlike and naïve, just like his true personality.

Ghosts.

It should be daily occurrence to see lifeless eyes and bloody bodies but for Dongwoo, it made a big difference to see them in broad daylight after taking their lives from a brutal battle compared when you see them haunting you again at night, with empty eyes swallowing you with guilt and bloody limbs reaching out to you as if begging you to give them back their lives that you took. And the thought alone made Dongwoo’s knees buckle and weaken.

“Who’s there?” Dongwoo yelled, trying to will down the quiver in his voice as he entered the dark room, curse the crazy minds of the people who thought that using the whole school at night without a single source of light is fun. Frankly speaking, Dongwoo thinks otherwise.

His footsteps echoed while his eyes squinted a bit to try and check the area. He approached the first row of tables and suddenly was taken aback when another sound echoed through the room and he was sure he didn’t imagine it this time.

“Is somebody in here?” He heard a sob, and he quickly froze in the spot. His mind recalled the childish story about a girl who committed suicide in the chemistry laboratory after killing her best friend and her boyfriend on the final examinations. Rumor has it that the girl continues to haunt the room to express her guilt and agony.

“H-hey… Sungjong, it’s not funny…” Dongwoo called out, knowing that the kid is the only one who knows about his stupid fear. And somehow, the kid always succeeds in using that fear to his advantage.

“I…” Dongwoo backed off, hearing a cold and pained voice, and clearly it wasn’t Sungjong’s, not unless Sungjong learned how to imitate a girl’s voice.

Maybe he did…?

“I’m sorry…”

“Seriously, this isn’t funny anymore…” Dongwoo muttered as he blindly walked backwards, bumping along the chairs and tables lined up neatly. He almost stumbled and shakily shuffled backwards when he saw someone, a person with long hair, emerging from the front.

“I’m sorry…please tell them I’m sorry…” The girl, face covered by thick waves of black hair, said sadly as she slowly approached Dongwoo. Her school uniform still bloodied and ripped in some parts, clearly showing that she committed suicide directly after the final examinations. Dongwoo’s eyes were wide as he backed off towards to door, only to find it locked for some reasons. He was so sure he left it open earlier.

“Don’t…don’t come near me!” Dongwoo shrieked when the girl stood in front of him, his arms crossed over his face as if protecting him from the ghost while his eyes tightly shut. Then suddenly a roar of laughter echoed through the room and Dongwoo immediately opened his eyes only to see two people, yes the girl was a real person laughing their asses off. Something snapped inside him as recognition dawned upon him.

The bloodied girl was someone he perfectly knew. Lee Jieun, a girl younger than them that has a reputation of letting other guys inside her pants to get whatever she wants. News even broke in the school that she even let the instructors fuck her just so she could escape the strong opponents in the final battles. The other guy, Dongwoo was sure he is very well acquainted with.

In fact, he is the person he is looking for at that moment.

Kim Joonmyun.

“God damn it. Really now, Jang, you’re what 18 years old and you still piss yourself with the idea of ghosts?” Suho roared as he sat on the teacher's desk, his hands fiddling with a sharp knife while Jieun sauntered towards him and sat on his lap.

"Honey, I did my job now..." Jieun purred and it disgusted Dongwoo to no end as they engaged in a sloppy tongue tied kiss. Really, this girl is a slag and she doesn't even know how to kiss properly. Dongwoo then tilted his head, letting his hand do whatever it desired and he found himself raising it along with his gun.

"Later, dear, when we’re finished this basta–" The sound of a gunshot interrupted Suho as Jieun suddenly fell from his lap and stumbled on the floor, her temples sporting two holes the same size as a bullet while it bled profusely. Suho quickly stood and in full alert now while Dongwoo walked slowly with that sickeningly bright smile of his while humming.

"Now now, I think the blood looks more realistic now..." Dongwoo said, passing by Jieun and kicking her head rather hard that it almost got detached from her body. The impact caused the blood to spray around the room, even on Dongwoo's uniform, and it made Suho back off. What's more frightening is that the smile never left his face and it looked creepy with all that blood on Dongwoo.

"Y-you know we're just k-kidding...right Dongwoo?" Suho stuttered as he realized he's trapped on the game he made himself. He felt himself backed up on the wall, way far from the door with the smiling Dongwoo slowly approaching him.

"Right. We're all playing a game here anyway, Suho." Dongwoo said as he stood in front of Suho who immediately raised the knife shakily.

"D-dont come near me!" Suho shrieked as Dongwoo took one more step, decreasing the distance between them.  It almost made Dongwoo chuckle with how fast the tables turned for them.

"Oh, are you using my own words against me?" Dongwoo asked sweetly as he reached for the knife and gently took it from Suho's shaking fingers. "But you know it won't work with me anyway..."

Dongwoo could literally see the shivers shaking Suho's body before he backed off and smiled once more at Suho while twirling the knife on his own fingers.

"You know, you're just the person I was looking for, someone told me you'll be the leader of team B..."

"N-no... I’m not...I s-swear I'm not..." Dongwoo blinked and shrugged as he slowly backed off.

"Oh is that so? Too bad then, I'll just let you go this time..." Dongwoo said as he turned, and he could hear Suho breathing a sigh of relief.

"Th-thank y–"

"You know I was just kidding right?" Dongwoo said and before Suho could react, the former turned around and threw the knife straight to Suho's skull. He smirked as the now lifeless body slowly slid down the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the wall before the body slumped down on the floor.

"Oh look, your own words came back to haunt you." Dongwoo said, eyes locked onto to the now lifeless eyes of Suho while he cocked his gun once more and aimed it at the corpse. "Shall I make you look like a realistic ghost now?" Dongwoo chuckled as he started firing his gun numerous times, forming holes on Suho's limp body as blood started spluttering all over the place, some even landing at Dongwoo's smiling face. And all the while, Dongwoo was singing his song from earlier.

"A girl who looks good in jeans... A girl no matter how much she eats doesn’t have a fat belly... A girl who laughs at my unfunny stories... I want that type of girl..." Dongwoo stopped as he felt his gun run out of bullets just in time when he finished the song, the whole corner covered with blood and some flesh from Suho's body.

"I want that type of girl…Well, except ghosts."

* * *

Sungjong had been waiting for at least an hour already. He knew there were already two persons dead, and he was sure Do Kyungsoo was the first one as he passed by the room where a retriever was dragging Kyungsoo’s lifeless body from the room. Then that must mean that Woohyun and Myungsoo’s sucky acting skills worked for the stupid boy.

Then, he was wondering, who was the other one? He was pretty sure Tao and Kai haven’t appeared yet in the game, and so is Lay. Then it must be Sehun or Suho. But it’s most likely the latter. That guy always treats every exam as a game and he always survives by pure sheer luck. Whenever he would not take the battle seriously, he always ends up almost losing. Good thing lady luck was always on his side.

But maybe not tonight, cause Sungjong hoped lady luck favored their side even just for tonight.

And besides, Sehun still has an unfinished business with Sunggyu.

Sungjong bravely wandered through the fourth floor, knowing that Team B won’t be as stupid as to stay in their base for this long. Surely, everyone must have wandered along the school building by now, hoping to kill each and every opponent there is. It would be interesting to watch the remaining members of Team B try to kill each other off, if only it wasn’t at the expense of Sungjong’s own members’ lives.

It’s somebody else’s job to kill the other members’ lives, and Sungjong knows exactly who and how the others will get killed. After all, he was one of the persons who planned out everything for tonight, from deceiving the members to how they would get killed in the end. And with the help of his mastery in mind games, it was very easy for them to put the plan into action.

“Damn it, where in hell should Kai and Tao be…” Sungjong muttered as he silently walked through the fourth floor, vying his time waiting for the signal and hopefully to find out the opponent team’s strong members’ hideouts for the meantime. Though his footsteps halted when he saw a bloodied Dongwoo walking out of what seemed like the Chemistry laboratory while humming a small tune, his steps seemingly having a different – jolly? – spring on it and a wicked smile adorning his lips.

“Well, looks like Dongwoo got his first kill of the night…” Sungjong muttered and hid through the shadows until Dongwoo disappeared through the end of the hall, probably to stuff himself some more ammunition from their base.

Then that must mean he’s already running out of time…the members will start to gather in the base and if he doesn’t find Tao and Kai soon…

He’s so gonna be dead to Sungyeol.

Another set of footsteps caught Sungjong’s attention, and he was sure he heard some voices coming from the other end of the hall, making him smirk. Well, now he’s sure lady luck is indeed on their side or maybe his side this time.

“You think Suho’s finihed fucking that slut?”

“Maybe. I hope so, cause if not, I swear…” Sungjong heard the voices solidify and he quickly sauntered to the room that was previously occupied by Dongwoo, not forgetting to intentionally make a few noises, discreet ones but loud enough for the approaching guys to hear. He smirked to himself when the voices suddenly disappeared and the footsteps were nowhere to be heard. He was sure the two newcomers clearly heard him. Once he was inside the room, though, he kind of regretted choosing it as his ‘hideout’.

“So this is how Jang Dongwoo works…” He muttered to himself as he saw what Dongwoo had left inside the room. The walls were painted bright red and the room awfully smelled copper and fresh flesh and gunpowder. A girl, or somewhat used to be a girl who he can’t recognize anymore because of the disturbingly many bullet holes on her body with her head almost detached from her body, was lying near the teacher’s table and another body heavily tattered by gunshots to the point of non-recognition was lying on one corner of the room.

Suho. That’s Sungjong’a guess because of the black mop of hair styled upwards was on top of a what used to be a head of a person, if not for the bullet holes adorning it now. Fuck. Sungjong fought the urge to vomit as he walked through the room, stepping on some stray flesh that came from the bodies. Never had he seen such a brutal way of killing someone, not even from the feared Kim Myungsoo and Nam Woohyun. These two must have triggered the beast inside Dongwoo and he was thankful that he arrived a few minutes late and he wasn’t able to watch how Dongwoo killed these two students.

Sungjong had to take a deep breath as he passed by what had remained with Suho’s bloody body when a bullet was shot a mere centimeter away from his head and he had to quickly dodged the next bullets aimed for him gracefully, as if he was dancing to a deadly rhythm. One wrong move and everything will be ruined. Finally, he reached the other door of the room and quickly sprinted down the hallway, making sure he exposed himself to his opponents and firing stray bullets, just so he could lure them into following him.

“He exposed too much of himself…it might be a trap.” Sungjong heard one of them, Tao, muttered as he hid on the corner leading to the stair case. He heard the hesitance on Kai’s voice but it made him smile triumphantly when he heard what Kai said.

“He did, but maybe…he’s luring us to the mice’s pit…let’s admit it, it’s not like we really do trust each other Tao, what makes it different from the members of Team A? It would be a shock to them when we caught them off guard…it’s that time of the night to resupply ammunitions, I can tell…”

Sungjong resisted the urge to chuckle, indeed what Kai said was partly true, and it amused him to no end that he had succeeded in controlling the game. He pressed his finger on the tiny and barely seen earpiece buried inside his ear before whispering.

“Incoming idiots in 4…” He chuckled softly as he heard a buzz and a quiet reply.

 _“_ _Got it. Good job, Sungjong. See you in 4_ _…”_ Sungjong chuckled once more and fired another round of stray bullets before skipping down the stairs, with two students hot on his tail. Indeed, lady luck is favoring him, and he wished he wouldn’t leave just yet, not until this game is over.

* * *

"This game seems to drag on forever...and we haven't even formally kill someone." Woohyun muttered as he lazily dragged his feet while Myungsoo walked ahead of him, equally bored as him. "Maybe you're the unlucky charm that's why I can't even catch an opponent. I should have just gone my own merry way just like how Hoya left us earlier."

"Fuck you..." Myungsoo hissed, raising his middle finger and never even looking back at the older. He grunted a few more curses before and Woohyun chuckled out loud.

"Oh, is this still about earlier? I said I'm sorry already. And besides you should be the one saying sorry, I mean my mind is scarred forever." Woohyun roared in laughter as he saw how Myungsoo's ears, even if it's fairly dark, turned red. “I didn’t know you and Sungyeol were doing something naughty behind closed doors. And I must say you need some more pointers…maybe one more trip to the sanction room?”

Woohyun chuckled once more, shaking his head as he tried to shake off the image of Sungyeol pressed against the wall as Myungsoo lamely ravished him. Christ, the hormones of these kids, tonight might be their last night and yet their concerns were not to survive but to get laid. Were they really that sexually deprived?

“Fuck you Woohyun. Fuck you and you’re stupid timing. Just cause you’re not getting any, you go and ruin it for everyone who’s trying to get laid…” Myungsoo muttered as he twirled his pistol by its trigger. “Why don’t you just go bring your snarky comments with you and fuck yourself? It seems like it’s the only thing you can do because you don’t have the balls to fuck Sunggyu, which reminds me, I haven’t seen him around…”

“Maybe I locked him up on a classroom, tied, naked, hot and bothered.”

“Stop. I don’t even want to know.” Woohyun chuckled once more as they reached the corner leading to the shoe cabinets. Maybe he should really do that idea of him sometime before the night ends. And maybe have Myungsoo watch. It always turns Woohyun a bit more when someone else’s watching.

“Fuck, where did the little fucker went?”

“I don’t know. If I get my hands on that bitch I swear…” Both Myungsoo and Woohyun stopped in their tracks and is if on cue, they both turn to each other with feral grins. Looks like they’re going to have their first kill for that night, and what more perfect victims than Huang Zitao and Kim Jongin?

But even before they could even take a step, their targets were already in front of them, equally as startled as they were. Woohyun's smirk got wider as he moved his hand slowly to reach for his gun on the holster but instantly a person was pouncing on him, the dangerous Huang Zitao. He was quick with his reflexes and he instinctively evaded the knife aimed for his throat, unconsciously jumping a few meters away from Myungsoo who was gracefully evading every single bullet aimed from him from Kai's rifle.

Nice.

The only fault he had committed was that he lost his gun somewhere while he was evading the surprise attack.

"Easy there..." Woohyun taunted as he blocked the knife once more, but this time his arm caught the attack and it painfully left a rather long yet shallow cut until his elbow. Woohyun hissed slightly, his eyes turning into slits as he lunged forward with a rather strong punch from his good hand. It hit Tao perfectly on his stomach, and Woohyun was sure he heard that creepily beautiful sound of bones crunching beneath his knuckles. His lips curl into a menacing smirk as he dug his fist deeper and harder, earning a choke from the tall guy.

One. Two. Three. Three ribs, Woohyun was sure.

"What the fuck are you doing?! Do you wanna die a fucking virgin!" Woohyun heard Myungsoo yell as he aimed another punch, this time on Tao's jaw before he kicked his opponent rather hard, making sure his feet came intact with the broken bones. Tao was thrown aback and landed squarely on his back and Woohyun's effort effectively disarmed his opponent with the knife. "Take him seriously, you son of a bitch!"

Woohyun chuckled, walking towards the squirming Tao and kicking the knife way too far from the both of them. He inspected his rather long cut, and he estimated ten minutes more before he would feel the effects of blood loss.

Ten minutes is more than enough to kill this brat.

"Fuck off, Myungsoo, eyes on your own battle."  Woohyun growled as he stepped on Tao's bleeding torso, smirking at the latter's reaction. Woohyun's very sure now that the broken ribs are puncturing one of his lungs. Woohyun dug his heel deeper and it made him satisfied when Tao hissed in pain and arched his back slightly. "Well, well, well...what do we have here? A squirming Huang Zitao."

Woohyun then took off his ripped uniform dress shirt, leaving him with his tight tank top, and hastily wrapped the cloth on his injured arm just so he could try to slow the bleeding. In a moment, Tao reached for Woohyun's leg and tried to at least break just at least a bone but Woohyun was too fast, stomping on the other's torso once more.

"In a minute, Tao, just lemme bandage myself...didn't you know real men don't use weapons to kill?" Woohyun muttered to himself and only then did he noticed that they were already alone on the hallway. Myungsoo must have took his own battle somewhere.

"Fuck you, I swear I'll kill you." Tao growled and Woohyun chuckled, but it was short lived as Tao quickly reversed the situation. He found a little opening when Woohyun laughed and albeit lifted the foot just a bit. Tao grabbed the opportunity to grab the foot, twist it a bit and down came a chuckling Woohyun. The boy quickly stood and lunged on an already sitting up Woohyun with his elbow hitting the latter squarely on the jaw and another hit jabbing his side. The impact sent Woohyun backwards. Woohyun tried to stand, but it was a bit difficult. One slip up and he already had a sprained ankle and a fractured rib.

"What now? The roles are reversed." Tao said as he slowly, menacingly walked, well limped in Woohyun's opinion, towards Woohyun with a creepy look. "I bet you're all words, aren't you, Nam Woohyun? I bet you really are a virgin and you'll die one cause it's either I kill you first..." Tao smirked, reaching for the knife before licking it.

"Or Sehun's going to kill your precious Sunggyu..." Something snapped inside Woohyun with the mention of Sunggyu's name, and it made his blood boil when this Tao assumed that Sehun's going to kill Sunggyu. No one's going to kill Sunggyu, not until he gets what he wants from the boy.

"Cat got your tongue, Nam Woohyun? Or were you imagining Sunggyu's limbs already splayed out in one of the corridors of the school?" Tao chuckled lowly as he watched Woohyun clenched his fist tightly and before he knew it, the latter yelled and launched himself towards Tao, all injuries forgotten. Woohyun quickly punched Tao, hard, that he was sure he heard his jaw crack, and another one on the guts, and a knee buried on his torso and Woohyun lost count. He found himself straddling a half alive Tao, the knife deliciously pierced on his left eye while the other eye is bleeding. But Woohyun didn't stop, no he can't cause he's lost in his lust to kill and Tao just unleashed the scary beast inside Nam Woohyun.

"No one."

A hard punch on Tao's chest.

"Will."

Another hard jab on his side, so hard that it pierced the skin.

"Kill."

It was a bloody mess, how Tao's torso was ripped open because of Woohyun's relentless punches and hits.

"My. Sunggyu!"

Somewhere between Woohyun ripping the remaining skin covering Tao's chest and breaking some ribs, the boy had lost and gave his last painful breath. But it didn't stop Woohyun, even the excessively bleeding in his arm was ignored as he continued ripping, punching and breaking whatever his hands caught from Tao's mutilated chest. Blood was everywhere, on the windows, walls, and even the ceiling and it only aggravated Woohyun's lust for killing. And no one will stop him, not the fact that Tao's already dead, not his teammates and definitely not their instructors.

That night, Woohyun will kill anyone who will lay even a single finger on Sunggyu, and no one will and can stop him.

* * *

It had all been too fast, one moment he and Woohyun had been smirking to themselves then the next thing he knew, Tao had pounced on Woohyun and Kai was shooting at him with his heavily armed assault rifle. Myungsoo had been alert all that time, easily avoiding the bullets as it pierced through the walls and windows, unlike Woohyun who looked like he's not taking Tao seriously.

Really, of all people, Woohyun would choose to play with serious Tao.

He moved lithely, as if a cat who was toying with his prey before going in for a kill. His feet were light and it was as though he was skipping on a rhythm only he can hear, and soon Kai had run out of bullets. The taller guy suddenly disappeared through the corner to probably reload bullets. It might be a good opportunity for Myungsoo to end his opponent, but no, he's not a dirty player unlike most of his classmates. He likes to win fair and square, and so he decided to just stay crouched on a seemingly safe spot on the hallway while he tried to rest for a while. Myungsoo took this chance to glance over his comrade who was now sporting a bleeding arm. He didn't know why, but at that time Myungsoo felt a twinge of fear racking his system, he felt a bit scared that it might be Woohyun's time to die, and that can't happen.

Woohyun is his to kill before the night ends.

He didn't know what possessed him, but Myungsoo found himself shouting at the older guy at the other end of the hallway, who delivered a rather painful punch which surely broke some of Tao' bones followed by a kick that sent Tao a few feet away from him. It was a good attack, but based on what Myungsoo had watched, Woohyun is still not taking Tao seriously and it wasn't good. The longer Woohyun plays with his prey, the higher the possibility of him losing. "What the fuck are you doing?! Do you wanna die a fucking virgin! Take him seriously, you son of a bitch!"

Myungsoo almost groaned when Woohyun just smirked and even had the nerve to walk casually towards Tao, stepped on his torso while taunting him and started to strip – god damn it, strip in the middle of the battle and lamely bandaged his injured arm. Myungsoo heard Kai's gun being cocked and his mind was telling him to stop eyeing his comrade, that Woohyun can look after himself but something was holding him back.

It felt like he was the hyung and Woohyun was the dongsaeng, and he didn't like the feeling.

"Fuck off, Myungsoo, eyes on your own battle." And as if on cue, a bullet barely missed his head and he started to evade the bullets once more, this time with more difficulty as the bullets became more and more accurate and near to hitting him. One bullet even scraped his sleeve and scratched his arm lightly. He was lucky though, that his steps led him to Woohyun's discarded gun from earlier. He quickly grabbed it and started to shoot at Kai who was now using the corner wall as his hideout. Myungsoo barely missed, the guy was too fast for his liking, and he had to force himself to do much, much better if he wants to kill Kai and live through the main event for that night.

Another bullet almost hit his head, and Kai went out of his hiding place to run towards the shoe cabinets, as if telling Myungsoo to follow him and the latter hesitated. Myungsoo took one last glance at Woohyun who seemed to be doing fine before he ran swiftly towards where Kai went to.

It was stupid for Kai to do so, though.

If there was one thing Myungsoo liked before killing his prey, it's to play with his mind.

He easily, stealthily went towards the rows of shoe cabinets lined up in the middle of the room. He swiftly glanced in between the cabinets, and smirked when he saw a fabric moving at the end of one row of cabinets.

Stupid boy.

Myungsoo then swiftly yet quietly climbed one of the cabinets, and quickly crouched down just for good measure. After all, his height has its disadvantages sometimes. He easily spotted his prey, crouching down on one of the corners of the room, seemingly panting, and his hand gripping his left arm tightly. So, Myungsoo was successful on burying one bullet on his opponent.

But what made Myungsoo smirk was the fact that Kai's gun was thrown haphazardly at his feet. He's clearly out of ammos, and Myungsoo can feel his smirk widen and his blood boil in anticipation.

He had this itch to finish this battle already, it's far too quiet from the other side where he came from, and he didn't want to imagine what's going on in that hallway. He just wished he wouldn't see something that would be haunting his mind for a very long time. He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth and cocked his gun before shooting at the direction of Kai, purposely missing him. He did want to finish his fight, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have his share of fun from it.

Myungsoo chuckled lightly as he watched how Kai scrambled to his feet, reaching for his useless gun and looking around. The former backed away slightly, using the shadows as his cover while Kai shakily walked around and turned his head for any signs of him.

"W-where are you? Show yourself!"

Myungsoo chuckled, a little bit louder this time as he skipped onto a different row of shoe cabinets, still hidden in the dark but a bit closer to Kai. His chuckles echoed through the dark room and Kai frantically looked for the source of it. Myungsoo's smirk widen, if that was even possible, as he raised his gun and shoot once more, this time he aimed for Kai's left leg and succeeded in injuring it.

He heard Kai hissed in pain as soon as the bullet pierced his thigh and Myungsoo's feet were quick to land himself on another row of cabinets much nearer to Kai. He purposely threw an empty canister of bullets way far from where he's staying at, just so he could watch how Kai frantically ran, or rather limped towards the source of the sound. Ah, trying to die a heroic death.

Before Kai could limp away from his current place, Myungsoo shot another bullet, intentionally missing his target. He loved the confused and frightened look Kai was wearing right now. Oh, this is surely one of Myungsoo's favorite battles since he started studying in this damned school. He shot another one, just so he could enjoy Kai's expression once more.

"You coward! Show yourself!" Kai yelled as he tried to look up the rows of cabinets but failed to spot Myungsoo. Myungsoo then decided to play fair just a bit and chuckled once more.

"So, the great Kim Jongin is reduced to a sissy fifth grade and resorted to calling names just because he couldn't see his opponent. Very mature, indeed." Myungsoo clicked his tongue once more as he shot another bullet, hitting Kai's right shoulder.

"Fuck you."

Myungsoo laughed this time and shot another bullet, hitting Kai's knees and it made his victim howl in pain and crouch on the floor, the now useless rifle once again thrown on the floor. He leapt to another cabinet, and landed quietly just above Kai who was writhing in pain, with all the blood flowing out from his wounds, forming a small puddle of red beneath him.

"Giving up now?" Myungsoo called as he sat comfortably on the top of the cabinets, dangling his long legs while twirling his pistol on his fingers. Kai looked up to him with a glare but Myungsoo just shrugged it off with a smirk. What could the other boy do anyway? His left arm is badly injured and can't even hold a weapon properly, his right shoulder has a bullet buried on it thus immobilizing his whole right hand, his left leg feels heavy with another bad wound and the bullet on his right knee cap succeeded in breaking the said bone.

He's as good as dead.

"Oh, poor baby, are you in pain? Shall I call mommy dearest for you?" Myungsoo cooed Kai in a sickeningly sweet tone as he cocked his gun and aimed it at Kai's forehead. "Oh, wait, mommy dearest is already dead, shall I send you to where she is so she could tend to you?"

"Fuck you. Just kill me already." Kai hissed as his eyes bore pure hatred with tears brimming on the edges of it. Myungsoo shrugged and slowly pulled the trigger, his eyes never breaking contact with Kai's.

"Oh, before I kill you, just so you know, I wasn't the one who killed your beloved Kyungsoo. Though I may have had a hand on it." Myungsoo smirked but before Kai could even react, the former pulled the trigger and shot him straight to the head, chuckling as some of what Myungsoo thought were brains scattered down where Kai's limp body was lying. He took one more look at Kai who now had a hole on his forehead ad tracker void of any light, and Myungsoo felt that satisfying shiver ran through his veins. 

"Time to fetch Woohyun." Myungsoo muttered as he stood and leaped down from the cabinets, successfully avoiding any bits and pieces from Kai's remains and hurriedly strode towards where he left Woohyun.

Though he wished he just didn't go back to fetch his comrade.

There in the middle of the hallway was Woohyun, with his back facing Myungsoo while he straddled a seemingly lifeless Tao. The walls and ceiling surrounding them were colored bright red but the disturbing part is that Woohyun's hands were frantically moving, and it produces that scary squishing sound, as if someone was squishing a ball of water.

Only this time, Myungsoo knew it wasn't water Woohyun's hands were squishing.

"Hey, dickhead." Myungsoo tried to call out, but he only received more squishing sounds. He took a step forward, and he started hearing huhed murmurs from the other living guy in the hallway.

"W-Woohyun?"

"Sunggyu...not killed...will...kill...them...all..."

A shiver ran down Myungsoo's spine as he got a closer look at what Woohyun was doing. From a distance, he could clearly see a knife stuck somewhere in Tao's head, and his arms almost mutilated to nonexistence. He was thankful that Woohyun is still blocking his view of what he thought would be the most gruesome part of Tao's body.

Fuck. So this is what happens when the beast gets unleashed.

"Yah Woohyun, look. Just stop, he's dead already. Sunggyu's not dead, and we both know that..." Myungsoo took another step and called out once more to Woohyun but it fell on deaf ears. Drastic incidents call for drastic measures, and he sure hopes he wouldn't suffer a drastic death as well with what he's going to do next. Well he had to, if he wants to bring Woohyun back to sanity, that is.

It would be too dangerous to have Woohyun in this state, not knowing who his opponents and comrades are. Not that Myungsoo clearly knows who's who anyway. He finally took a deep breath and raised his gun, Woohyun's gun, and bit his lower lip hard.

A gun shot echoed through the hallway, and a bullet passed by Woohyun's already bloody cheek before it disappeared through the darkness in front of the boy. Woohyun stopped, and Myungsoo didn't know if he should be happy or not, his cheek now cut open and bleeding but with all the blood on his face it wasn't even noticeable anymore. And, it's not like Woohyun felt the wound nor he cared at the moment, that was what Myungsoo thought.

With his eyes almost turning red with all the blood surrounding him, Woohyun slowly glanced over his shoulder, as if a beast caught in the act of eating, with his teeth gritted. Myungsoo felt frozen on the spot and he could tell that the older couldn't even recognize who was in front of him anymore, all his senses were telling him to rip, tore and kill anything that comes in his way.

"Hyung. Stop. He's dead already." Myungsoo even resorted to using hyung, a thing the former disliked to do and would never ever do again, but maybe, just maybe, Woohyun would come to his senses. He wouldn't mind if he would have to endure the forever teasing of Woohyun, as long as he wouldn't die in the hands of this devil in front of him. Woohyun's ears picked up on the words, the voice familiar but his mind too warped up in his own violent world to even comprehend that it was Myungsoo who was standing in front of him. Myungsoo's hands were still wrapped around the gun, arms a bit limp and down yet his body was poised in a stance for shooting, as if ready if ever Woohyun attacked him.

"Woohyun." Myungsoo called out once more with anxiety laced on his voice, yet his features remained composed. He felt somewhat at ease when Woohyun stopped and slowly stood, finally facing him. Woohyun, on the other hand, tilted his head, his eyes still seeing red before he growled lowly and testily, as if imitating an enraged beast interrupted in the middle of his meal.

"Shit..." Myungsoo muttered and cautiously took a step back. His eyes never broke Woohyun's intense stare, and Myungsoo had never felt so scared in his whole life. So this is how it feels like when you get to encounter the devil himself. He watched in bated breath as Woohyun slowly stepped towards him, his body slowly, creepily moved, as if Woohyun was stretching after the strenuous work he had done with Tao.

"Woohyun hyung..."

Woohyun muttered incoherent words as he looked at Myungsoo before a feral grin appeared on Woohyun's face. But before Woohyun could launch himself towards Myungsoo, a figure swiftly appeared behind Woohyun and hit him hard on his nape with the back of the gun, effectively making the guy unconscious and lying on the floor in a blink of an eye. Myungsoo quickly raised his gun once more as the figure stepped out of the shadows while shaking his head.

"Gosh, and here I thought I wouldn't get to see Woohyun like this again..." The person said as he crouched down and stared at the now unconscious Woohyun. Myungsoo visibly relaxed and put his gun down with a relieved sigh. He let his knees buckle and stumbled on the floor while he tried to calm his raging heart down. He looked up at the boy in front of him with a small smile. “Carry him to the base. Unless we want team B to see a disadvantaged Woohyun.”

"Thanks, Dongwoo hyung."

* * *

"This is it..." Sunggyu whispered as he stood in front of the dark gymnasium. It was way far from the main building where the battles are happening, but Sunggyu knew his opponent isn't there. He had already wasted almost an hour straying around the school, avoiding the gymnasium as much as he could while avoiding the others too.

He had passed by how Hoya and the others killed Kyungsoo effortlessly, or maybe with a lot of effort from Woohyun and Myungsoo, and how Dongwoo had killed Suho and Jieun. After that, he forced himself to proceed to the gymnasium. Truthfully, he expected more from Hoya, but his accurate shot was very impressive. It was hard to shot a moving target, straight in his head, after all. But it was a different case for Dongwoo.

It was scary, how Dongwoo was so frightened and scared at one moment and in a blink of an eye, he was all smiles as if he wasn't shooting bullets on Suho's and Jieun's already dead bodies. He was right when he had a feeling that it was always the quiet and innocent ones who are dangerous. It was gruesome really, how the others kill their opponents effortlessly and void with feelings, and it unnerved Sunggyu to no end. It was just Dongwoo and Hoya whose battle he had caught a glimpse, what more if it's Myungsoo and Woohyun?

Sunggyu sighed and took a deep breath. Might as well get this over and done with. He took a step inside the dark, spacious building and squinted his small eyes through the dark space. He walked cautiously, his hand already reaching for the gun holster underneath his jacket. He froze in the middle of stepping when he heard a gun cocked behind him, right directly on his head.

"Great to see you here, Sunggyu." Sunggyu could feel his heart beating wildly, how could he be so unaware of his surroundings? "Good to know that you are a man of your words. Weapons on the floor and hands up, Kim Sunggyu."

Sunggyu swallowed hard. He's totally cornered and he can't even do anything about it. He was sure no one would even think of passing by the gym, it's way too far from the main building where all the fights are happening. Not even Nam Woohyun who has a 'Sunggyu radar', as Myungsoo had quoted, won't think of this place to visit when he has his own battle to survive.

Sunggyu was alone, and he can't rely on anyone this time.

"I'm waiting, Sunggyu." Sunggyu heard Sehun behind him mutter, his foot tapping on the floor impatiently and Sunggyu analyzed his options for that moment. If he follows Sehun, it would be a very great disadvantage to fight the guy without any weapons. If he doesn't, and attacks Sehun, well...

Well, the guy would definitely blow up his skull with a pull on the trigger.

Sunggyu could literally hear Sehun smirk and he doesn't like it. It was really really stupid of him to go inside carelessly without even being aware of the surroundings, a very little mistake that could cost his life. 

"Feels awful, isn't it, when you can't do anything but follow your killer's commands, huh?" Sehun chuckled as he watched Sunggyu shakily threw his gun on the floor and before he raised both hands in midair. Sunggyu bit his lower lip hard as he heard Sehun walked around him, gun still pointed in his head before he kicked Sunggyu's gun away from the two of them. "Now you know how he felt when you played with him in that fucking arena!"

"S-Sehun...don't be like this..." Sunggyu winced as Sehun growled and pushed the gun closer to Sunggyu's forehead. Then Sehun suddenly chuckled, his mirth laced with malice as his eyes glared at Sunggyu.

"Look, you're even begging now, Kim Sunggyu. Listen, did you even heeded his pleads not to kill him?" Sunggyu closed his eyes, suddenly hearing Luhan's pleading voice ringing through his ears.

_"Sunggyu...please..."_

"Sehun...you don't understand."

"Then care to explain to me what it is that I don't fucking understand! Because it's clear that when I arrived on that fucking arena, he was begging you but you had to ruin it and stab him. In the chest." Sehun stepped forward, the gun now pressed cooly on Sunggyu's forehead, and Sunggyu cautiously stepped back a bit. "Tell me, Kim Sunggyu! Or should I go and look for Nam Woohyun and let him watch how I kill you while you beg, just like how I had experienced before?!"

Sunggyu was taken aback. Why would they need Woohyun here to experience how Sehun felt? It's not like Woohyun likes him that way...right? All he knows is that Woohyun wants him dead in his own hands, that's why he wants everyone to back off from his prey. And stupid everyone did back off. He shook his head lightly to remove the ideas on his head.

Damn, he's going to get killed by Sehun and all he thinks about is how Nam Woohyun is meddling with his life.

"I... I didn't want to kill him. I swear, I didn't want to kill him, Sehun." Sunggyu muttered as he recalled what happened a year ago. It was awful, really, recalling how you have to kill a classmate, an acquaintance, a boy the same age as yours because you had no choice. Because your life depended on it too. Sometimes, Sunggyu dreams of Luhan's pleading eyes – or maybe his former victims' as well, and it leaves an unpleasant feeling even after he wakes up. Maybe the feeling's called guilt, perhaps?

"You know, we're supposed to fucking run away from this hell! We we're supposed to live normal, as normal as a fucked up 17 year olds can be, and he was all excited. But you had to ruin it. You had to kill him even if it's clear that you already won!"

"I... didn’t want to kill him."

"But you did."

"Because I had to. Luhan, he's one of the best opponents I had encountered, and I swear I fought him fair and square...all I wanted was to injure him badly, to the extent that he can't fight anymore. That was my plan...it's just that..."

"Just what?"

"The judges, they wanted me to kill him. Or else, they'll kill me instead. It's an impromptu rule they had made up, just so they could satisfy their disgusting appetite for killing." Sunggyu said softly and he could feel Sehun slightly lowering his gun for a moment but all hesitation was gone and the gun was once again pressed on Sunggyu's forehead, the cold piece of metal seemed scalding hot on his skin.

"Lies! You're lying, Sunggyu!"

"I'm not. It's the truth, Sehun." Sunggyu mustered up the confidence inside him and bravely stepped up, making Sehun shakily took a step behind. He then reached for the gun and placed it directly in front of his heart while he looked directly at Sehun's eyes that were showing confusion and hesitation. "Luhan. He's a good boy, he...he's pleading me to kill him, because he thinks I deserved to win with all the injuries I caused him when he had done the same damage to me as well."

Sehun's resolve seem to falter and he stepped back once more, his hands shaking as he pulled the gun from Sunggyu's hands and aimed on his head once more. "S-stop! Stop messing with my head! Stop talking as if you know Luhan so well!"

"And you know what he whispered before he forced his body to get pierced on the knife I was holding?" Sunggyu asked as he stepped towards Sehun once more, his eyes never breaking eye contact. "He wanted me to tell you how sorry he was that he couldn't escape with you...but I can't. How can I tell you that, when I just killed him? Even if I do try, I know you wouldn't believe me anyway..."

"Y-you...how...?"

"I told you I'm not lying...but...if you think I'm lying then go shoot me, if it makes you feel like you've avenged his death...but what good would it be when we both know Luhan wouldn't like it? You know how Luhan disliked it when people fight because of hi–"

"You're right, Sunggyu..." Sunggyu stopped as Sehun cut him off and suddenly put the gun down and looked down. In a blink of an eye though, Sehun had the gun firmly pointed in his temple.

"I believe you."

"What...what are you doing?" Sunggyu asked as he weighed his options well, one wrong move and the guy in front of him will die, and it's not even in his own hands.

"You're right. Luhan wouldn't want me to kill you. In fact, he'd even get angry."

"But...you...it's not right, Sehun. You...you could still escape, I'm sure Luhan would like that. He would like you to live the life you deserve."

"Don't you understand, Sunggyu? I don't have anyone or anything to return to." Sehun chuckled lightly as he pressed the pistol harder on his skin. "Luhan's my everything, and without him, it's useless to escape this hell pit. Might as well go where Luhan's laughing his ass off right now."

"Sehun..."

"I'm sure Nam Woohyun will do the same if you die...or maybe he'll kill the whole school's population first before he wallows in depression in his weird, fucked up way."

What the hell is wrong with this guy? He's at the edge of life and death and all he babbles about is Woohyun's obsession on killing him? Sunggyu decided that Sehun is indeed fucked up with his thoughts. Well maybe everyone else too, especially Myungsoo--he seems to be the mastermind of all this fuckery about Woohyun liking him, since they all thought Woohyun feels something special towards Sunggyu. Clearly, for Sunggyu, all Woohyun feels for him is a fucked up obsession and intent on killing him. Though, Sunggyu's thoughts were interrupted when Sehun suddenly spoke.

"Kim Sunggyu. Thank you."

Sunggyu's eyes widened as his hands tried to reach for Sehun while his mouth opened to call for the latter but he was too late. The sound of a gunshot echoed through the dark gymnasium and Sehun stumbled on the ground with a hole on his temple. Sunggyu stood still as a few drops of blood from Sehun splattered on his face and chest.

"You're one hell of a liar, Kim Sunggyu..." A series of claps resounded on the quiet room, as someone approached Sunggyu, but the latter didn't pay any attention. He knew the moment he was talking to Sehun that somebody else was there. He proceeded to wipe his face off of Sehun's blood with the sleeve of his uniform before he turned to face the other guy. "Such a good actor really, better than Myungsoo and Woohyun. I was there the whole time you and Luhan were fighting, hell that mind of yours is really amazing to conjure a story like that. I'm clearly impressed."

"How long have you been here, Hoya?" Sunggyu said, all traces of softness gone as Hoya stepped out of the shadows with a smirk.

"Let's not fool each other, Sunggyu, you know very well when I arrived here." Sunggyu smirked, for the first time and cocked his head towards Hoya. "Luhan, he was really begging for you not to kill him. Good thing Sehun had to arrive late or else that story of yours would have a flaw on it."

Sunggyu shrugged as he walked towards a corner where his gun was shining under the moonlight that entered the room from the numerous windows on the walls. Then he placed it on his holster before shrugging off his bloodied jacket and throwing it carelessly.

"But I was wondering, how did you know Luhan's personality? I had a few encounters with the boy, and your description seemed fit."

"Luhan is my seatmate since I can remember. And even if we never talked, how the hell should I not remember how innocent and kind his personality is?" Hoya chuckled as he clapped once more.

"Fuck, Kim Sunggyu, I'm glad we're comrades...or still comrades. You really are one scary opponent. You have earned my respect." Hoya playfully said as he turned around, missing the smirk forming on Sunggyu's face as he reached for something on his pocket. Sunggyu then glanced over the corners of the room, his smirk widening when he saw the cameras still void of its usual red blinking light just like how it was.

"Let's go, I passed by the torches and I think there's only one opponent left... I think everyone should be waiting in the base right now for the final plan." Hoya stopped walking when he felt that Sunggyu wasn't following him.

"Hey, are you go–" Hoya's eyes widened as he turned and met Sunggyu's gun aimed at him.

"Sure. Don't worry, I'll tell them you unfortunately can't join the last meeting."

"You...you can't kill me! There's one more opponent le–"

"I can. Who cares about rules when I'm going to kill you later anyway." With that said, Sunggyu smirked and pulled the trigger, shooting a clearly dumbfounded Hoya. The loud bang of the gun echoed even outside of the gym, and it resonated a few more seconds. A moment later, Sunggyu stepped out of the gym, twirling the gun on his finger while wearing an unusual and scary smirk.

"Let the games begin."

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/15/2017: Edited grammatical errors

_"Hey, where are you going?" Lay glanced over his shoulder while he was on the way towards the door when Kai called out to him. "You do know that the games are starting, right?"_

_"What, can't I just go to the bathroom?" Lay whined as he faced the other members with an irritated look. "And besides, it's not like anyone can kill me, unless they want to get disqualified this early."_

_"You can never be too sure, Zhang Yixing. We all know that more than half of the cameras around the school aren't even turned on yet, they might take the opportunity to, I don't know, do something to the leader of Team B." Tao said, void of any emotions as he polished his knives by the windows._

_"Fuck off, we all know that they think it's Suho who's our leader here."_

_"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're gonna look for a place to hide until everyone else is dead." Kyungsoo said with sarcasm in his voice while Suho laughed beside him._

_"Careful though, you might encounter stray souls loitering around the school. It is night after all." Suho said before letting out another roar of laughter along with Kyungsoo who was doubling over the floor. Lay glared at both of them and a sigh was heard across the room._

_"Really, why am I teamed up with a bunch of idiots?" Both Kyungsoo and Suho stopped their snickers to turn to Sehun who was rolling his eyes._

_"Looks like the proverbial stick is still up on your ass, almighty Oh Sehun." Lay muttered making Sehun sigh once more and decided to just let the comment pass._

_"I'm not taking sides but we both know Tao's right as well. Unless you want to be the first idiot to die while you're looking for a safe place to hide then be our guest. Don't say we didn't warn you though." Lay turned to Sehun and flashed him his middle finger before turning towards the other members inside the room._

_"Fuck off. It's not like you're all really concerned about my well being anyway. As far as I know, not even one of us trusts each other so stop the fucking act." Lay yelled before he turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door hard. "Pretentious bastards."_

_Lay shook his head and started to walk towards the nearby bathroom stall, and since he only had a few minutes before the games start he decided he'll just go and look for a good hiding place later when the game starts._

_So what if he's really going to hide until everyone dies? It's not against the rules, isn't it?_

_He shook his head and started whistling as he entered the dim bathroom, feeling a shiver down his spine as he felt as if someone was watching him._

_Fuck Suho and Kyungsoo for messing up his already coward system._

_"Why does it have to be dark in the school anyway? They should have just used the goddamned electricity, but no they had to be all sadistic and twisted to fucking turn off the electricity source in the goddamned school to make it more exciting! Well fuck you, Principal Choi!" Lay said to himself as he relieved himself. He then zipped up his pants and was about to turn when he heard someone speak._

_"Such great words from the leader of Team B." Lay felt shivers on his spine once more as he slowly turned around and saw someone leaning against the doorframe. "But I agree with you, it's kinda twisted to have the electricity cut off for this fucking game."_

_"What...you can't kill me yet!" Lay said as he stumbled backwards when the other person entered and slowly approached him, his butt falling against the urinal he just used and his whole body shaking with fear._

_Fuck, he should have just listened to Tao just this once._

_"Don't worry, I won't kill you." The person smiled at him, but it didn't comfort him not even a bit. "Well, not yet."_

_And before he knew it, he felt a heavy sting against his neck and his body falling limp in a matter of seconds. The last thing he saw though was that effeminate boy smiling down on him._

 

Lay suddenly jolted awake, his whole body drenched in sweat as he panted. He tried standing but he suddenly realized he was restrained. Both of his hands were tied up behind him while his feet were tied together in a tight knot. Then he decided to struggle, but it was futile. Damn why did he decided to skip lessons about escaping?

"Help!" Lay yelled as he continued to struggle. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and he found himself on a dark room without any windows.

Fuck, where is he?

"It's useless you know." He turned his towards the source of the voice and found someone leaning against the wall. "It's not like someone's gonna help you. Based on the torches lighted on the grounds, two persons are already dead from your group, they're Kyungsoo and Suho. Sehun, obviously, won't be able to rescue you since he has some personal matters to attend to. As for Kai and Tao...well they have their hands full with Myungsoo and Woohyun."

He really should have just followed Tao.

"Good morning, sunshine. How was your sleep?"

"What do you want from me?" The person slowly walked towards him, and Lay's eyes widened as he recalled what happened earlier. "Sungjong."

"Glad I didn't overdose you with that sleeping solution. I doubted whether I have put you on coma after I injected it on your shaking body."

"I said what do you want from me?" Lay said and he hoped that the shakiness of his voice remained unnoticed by the other. He then received a chuckle, so much for hoping.

"We both know what I want from you." Sungjong said as he crouched in front of Lay with a scary looking scalpel on his hand. The other smiled eerily before he twirled the scalpel on his hand. "It's almost midnight, and I'm pretty sure in the next few minutes Team A will be announced as the winning group..."

Lay shivered as he felt the tip of the scalpel making a light trail on his jaw. Sungjong chuckled as he dragged the scalpel towards the other's throat.

"I'm sure Myungsoo and Woohyun won't even prolong their fights, well unless Woohyun plays with his prey once more." The cold metal of the scalpel dug through his neck and his eyes widened, as though he was pleading to Sungjong.

"Sungjong...please..."

"You know...I've always enjoyed Anatomy class the best. The way we dissect the body of our fellow classmates' dead bodies...it sends a shiver of excitement through my body." Lay swallowed hard, the scalpel now making its way to his collarbones.

"What do you say we review the lessons we learned from that class?"

"I... I’ve always skipped Anatomy class anyway." Lay shakily said as Sungjong chuckled and pulled the scalpel away from Lay's skin.

"Oh I know. That's why I'm going to tell you things I've learned from Anatomy class." Lay felt his blood drained as Sungjong pointed his scalpel on Lay's chest.

"Let's start with your chest, shall we?"

Lay found himself screaming in agony as the scalpel pierced through the skin on his chest, barely a hair’s thread away from his beating heart. He tried to struggle but the ropes seemed to get tighter with every movement he does. The creepy sound of Sungjong’s chuckles never reached his ears as his senses started to become unreliable.

Everything was too hazy and blurred and disoriented in Lay’s mind.

“Just…kill…me…” Lay managed to gasp out as Sungjong finally retracted the scalpel, the object dripping with too much blood that it made Lay nauseous. Or maybe Lay’s nauseous already given that his heart is exposed. Literally.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Sungjong smirked as he tilted his head while wiping the scalpel on Lay’s torn shirt. Lay, with every ounce of energy left in his body, felt the fury and anger coursing in his veins. “Look how your heart’s suddenly beating so fast. Are you nervous that you’ll meet your team mates soon?”

“Fuck you…” Lay snarled, but it came out as a breathy whisper which earned another round of chuckles from his captor. But the smile on Sungjong’s face faltered and Lay swore he heard a faint buzz. That, or Lay’s just in delusion.

“Sehun…dead…kill...faster…” Lay could faintly hear the words through the faint buzz and Sungjong sighed loudly. He twirled the scalpel on his hands and looked at Lay with disappointment clear on his face.

"Aish, as much as we're having a grand time reviewing Anatomy class, it sucks cause we're running out of time and I need to kill you now. But I won't let it go not until I see what your insides look like." Sungjong muttered as he traced the scalpel on Lay's torso, but Lay's already too weak and numb to even protest or understand what Sungjong is saying. Another round of chuckle came out from Lay's opponent but it sounded faint and soft.

So, this is how it felt to die slowly and painfully. His vision became blurry as Sungjong pressed the knife hard on his torso, immediately sending liquids upon liquids of blood travelling up his esophagus and finally reaching his mouth. The student felt himself coughed weakly and the thick, coppery liquid escaped his mouth, leaving trails on his jaw. Another stab, another round of blood running up his throat and Lay felt the humid air blowing on his insides.

"Oh look, your heart's slowing down..." Indeed, it is. Lay felt himself releasing deep and shallow breaths and his eyes begin to droop. He felt a few more stabs and an eerie sound of squelching and he nearly shouted, but he can't because he doesn't have any energy left to even breath.

"Oh so this is how a stomach from a living body feels like in my fingers." Sungjong said and Lay nearly fainted as he weakly raised his head and saw that indeed that was a bloody stomach in Sungjong's hand. And not just any stomach, it was his stomach. Lay heard, or so he thought he heard Sungjong laughed and he felt a tugging sensation on his almost numb torso and it didn't take a genius to know that Sungjong's tugging his intestines.

Lay was sure he's almost dead and he wishes Sungjong would just end it quickly, just a few more tugs and he knows he'll be cursing Tao in hell or wherever he's in right now. And maybe admit to Sehun that he's indeed fucking right. Again. But then just as he was about to let go of his last breath, Sungjong suddenly stopped and he could literally hear the other wincing when a rather loud buzz echoed once more.

"Fine, fine! Yes. Gosh, you old Chinese party pooper." Sungjong cursed and turned to Lay who had tons of questions running on his half dead brain. Chinese? As far as his coherent mind can decipher, there are only two Chinese students in their class and that's Tao and him. And clearly Team A doesn't have any Chinese members. Maybe his mind is fucking him up again.

And besides he has other things to think of, like that scalpel on Sungjong's hand that is just in front of his already slowing heart. He can’t understand what Sungjong was muttering anymore. His eyes were starting to droop and his vision finally became a blur but the smirk on Sungjong’s face looked clear to him, as though taunting him. And last thing that Lay felt was that stinging pain from the scalpel as Sehun's voice echoed through his ears.

_Hate to say it, but we told you so._

* * *

The silence was awkward, but bearable, for Myungsoo. He and Dongwoo along with a still unconscious Woohyun were waiting on their base. His eyes were focused on the torches on the school grounds, and there were already 6 torches lit, 5 from the opponents and 1 from their team.

Who might it be? It couldn’t be Sungyeol, right? They still have an unfinished business, god damn it.

Maybe it’s Sungjong, or worse, Sunggyu since he hadn’t seen those two since the exam had started. But Myungsoo hoped it isn’t the latter. He doesn’t want to see another repeat of Woohyun ripping, tearing and killing every living thing that passes his way. He glanced over Dongwoo who was wiping the blood off his arms and body, and it sent shivers on his spine to just imagine how this jolly and carefree boy killed his unlucky victim. Even the way he smiled and hummed nonchalantly while he wiped off the blood off his body as if it was a daily occurrence in his life made Myungsoo felt unsafe at that moment. 

This boy is worse than Woohyun in a killing spree.

“Dongwoo, who did you kill?” Myungsoo asked as he looked back on the school grounds. One more opponent from Team B to kill, and then the persons with him on this very room would be his very own opponents to kill.

"Suho. And Jieun." Dongwoo said as he threw the rag on the floor after he finally cleaned his arms and chest. Then he turned to Woohyun who was lying on the floor and started to clean the still fresh blood from his body. "I didn't know why Jieun was here, but...things got out of hand and... yeah."

"I see... Who do you think is the dead member from our group?" Myungsoo muttered nonchalantly as his eyes locked on the only torch lighted on the second row, the row meant to monitor the members of Team A. He waited patiently for Dongwoo's answer who seemed to be hesitating to answer as he cleaned Woohyun's arm.

"Hoya...he's dead." The tension became thick as Myungsoo felt a shiver down his spine. Hoya's dead. Well what a funny thing, he was just with the guy a few hours earlier. They even teamed up to tease Woohyun and his cowardice. He's not that close to Hoya, and frankly speaking, someone's bound to die from their team, but he didn't expect it to be Hoya this early. Myungsoo had always expected Hoya to be included on the last ones to live throughout the game, but right now Myungsoo doesn't know what to think anymore. It was unexpected and it sent a shiver of thrill down his spine.

Finally, the game becomes interesting.

"Did Lay kill him?"

"No."

"Then who? Sehun?"

"Myungsoo...there's...there's a traitor..." Myungsoo barely heard the last part of Dongwoo's sentence, and he didn't know if he should believe it or not. Maybe, just maybe, Dongwoo's strategy is to fuck up their minds to lose that very small trust they had with each other.

But somehow, knowing how Dongwoo fights, it's usually the other way around. Dongwoo is the one always fooled by the enemy but somehow he overturns the table and wins all his battles fair and square.

"How sure are you?"

"Listen... I saw Hoya through the windows walking towards it while I was walking along the third floor. He's the first member I ran onto since the game started, and I was excited so I ran towards the gym. But...when I got there...Sunggyu...he killed Hoya. Sunggyu was strangling him against the wall before he punctured something on his arm, probably a knife and in a few seconds Hoya stopped struggling, and he slowly slid down the floor." Dongwoo hissed and suddenly the door opened and a panting Sunggyu leaning on the doorframe came into their view. Dongwoo's eyes widened a bit before he smiled while Myungsoo's mind slowly processed the information he just heard from Dongwoo.

Sunggyu killed Hoya.

But he can't, someone from Team A is still alive. And besides Sunggyu is the Mr. Goody Two Shoes of the school, well as good as one can be in this school.

On the other hand, though, who cares about the rules anyway when your life is already at stake?

"Hey, Sunggyu, how did your fight went?" Sunggyu's pants were the only ones that were heard through the room, and Myungsoo glanced over Sunggyu who was sweating hard, with a few splatters of blood on his shirt as he walked inside the room and closed the door. Then Myungsoo averted his eyes to Dongwoo who was fiddling with the bloody rag rather nervously.

"Hoya, he's dead..." Sunggyu muttered before he sat down on the floor beside Dongwoo. Then he bowed his head and pulled his hair rather hard while he sobbed lightly. "He...saved me from Sehun...he caught the bullet meant for me..."

Could it be that Dongwoo's fucking up his mind?

Or maybe the sly Sunggyu's the one fucking his already messed up mind?

Myungsoo doesn't know who to trust anymore, and it excited him more. He cocked an eyebrow as he waited for Sunggyu to continue but it seemed the latter doesn't want to elaborate anymore.

It was too tensed inside the room, and Myungsoo could feel Dongwoo shift uncomfortably from his spot while Sunggyu stopped sobbing and looked at Dongwoo with a calculating gaze.

And, honestly, it amused Myungsoo to no end.

"You don't believe me...do you, Dongwoo?" Myungsoo resisted the urge to smirk as he watched the scene unfolding in front of him.

Oh, this is so going to be interesting.

"I..."

Could it be...?

A groan echoed through the walls of the dark and tensed room and Myungsoo had never felt the need to strangle Woohyun and his timing this bad. Just when things get interesting, he goes on and wakes up and interrupts the interesting scene unfolding. Said guy stirred and slowly sat up while squinting his eyes, and Myungsoo wanted to punch Woohyun to knock him unconscious again.

"W-what...what happened?" Myungsoo almost groaned as he watched how Dongwoo lively, as lively as he could, explained everything while he started to remove the makeshift bandage on Woohyun's injured arm. Then he glanced over at Sunggyu who was wearing his usual poker face, but truth be told, Myungsoo found something...different from the usual Sunggyu he had been accustomed for the past few days.

It's like he's emitting a murderous aura beneath that calm facade of his. Just like how he is when he's on a one on one battle.

And Myungsoo likes it. Very much.

* * *

"Hey, don't overuse that brain of yours. It might overheat and melt down." Woohyun chuckled as he stretched his back and sighed as soon as his muscles felt more relaxed. Then he glanced over at Myungsoo who was still looking troubled and absent mindedly looking outside the window, obviously in deep thought.

"Fuck you. Fuck you Nam. You've scarred my mind with how you killed that Chinese guy. And fucking wear a god damned shirt!" Woohyun roared in laughter as he walked towards Myungsoo who was avoiding looking at him, after all he was half naked, with his pants ripped in some parts and is dangerously low.

"You know...I might take you on that offer." Woohyun chuckled as he leaned down and slowly licked Myungsoo's neck before nibbling on his earlobe. "It's just like how you have said it, I'm really not getting any action lately. Wanna help a friend out?"

Woohyun felt Myungsoo shiver, his fingertips slowly tracing the latter's neck before resting on the first button of the shirt and twirling it on his fingers. He watched how Myungsoo's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as the younger swallowed hard and he felt himself smirk.

Easy. Too easy.

"Come on, Myungsoo, you're the one who suggested it...and it's just the two of us here..." Woohyun purred at Myungsoo's ear, licking its shell as he unbuttoned the top button of Myungsoo's shirt. Woohyun's smirk widened as the younger started breathing heavily.

"W-Woohyun... I swear I'm going to kill you."

"I don't think so. Not when you're in a state like this." Woohyn chuckled as he leaned closer, if that was even possible. "So what's it gonna be? Don't tell me you’re a coward dickhead as well?"

"Y-yes..."

"Yes what?" Woohyun resisted the urge to laugh as Myungsoo melted down to a pile of a senseless horny teenage boy with just a few licks and seductive words. It was way too easy for Woohyun, and he's enjoying every single moment of it. He let his other hand run down Myungsoo's chest lightly before he placed it on his inner thigh, a place too close on Myungsoo's crotch before he squeezed them gently. Woohyun could literally feel Myungsoo's pants getting tighter and he resisted the urge to chuckle when he heard a stifled moan.

"Yes, I'm a dickhead, Woohyun. I'd rather admit I'm a dickhead than to let you fuck me." Woohyun let out a chuckle and in a blink of an eye, he was off of Myungsoo who was trying his best to glare at the former given his state of arousal. Then Woohyun leaned against the cool window glass just beside Myungsoo with his arms crossed and eyes crinkled into crescents.

"You okay there, Myungsoo? Can't even glare properly."

"Fuck you. Really. I hope you die and rot in hell before you could even fuck Sunggyu. Speaking of the little hamster, I think he's taking too long to look for Sungyeol and Sungjong. Unless he encounters Lay."

"I don't think so. And besides Dongwoo's taking too long to look for bandages as well."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say those two went for a quickie."

But both Woohyun and Myungsoo did know better than that.

Woohyun instead chose to chuckle but it slowly faded when his eyes caught sight of the torches on the school grounds and his lips turned into a somewhat different smirk – a sad one, perhaps?

"So, Hoya's dead huh?"

"Yeah. Imagine, he was just mocking you earlier with how you're a coward dickhead." Myungsoo said, still avoiding to look at him, but Woohyun shrugged it off. The news of Hoya's death is just starting to sink in his fucked up mind, and honestly, Woohyun felt a bit down. Maybe he's disappointed, or mad, or sad, but this fucked up exam is fucking up his system.

He wished it was just one of those one on one battles, where he doesn't have the feel of attachment with his classmates.

"Woohyun...what if someone among us is a traitor?" Woohyun looked over at Myungsoo who had his eyes set on the torches while he leaned forward and rested his chin on the windowsill. The former shrugged and let out a sigh.

"And you believe it?"

"I don't know. I just find it...amusing that they're trying to mess up my fucked up mind. Dongwoo said someone from our team killed Hoya." The statement remained hung in the air as Woohyun remained quiet, his eyes searching Myungsoo's eyes for confirmation. Then suddenly, all too sudden, Woohyun chuckled and it made Myungsoo tilt his head in confusion.

"It's bound to happen anyway. There's only one opponent left, and when that guy gets killed, we become enemies to each and every one of us." Woohyun said with a chuckle. "And besides, if someone really is a traitor among us and killed Hoya while Lay is still out there, then why are we still here playing this sadistic game, hmm? The principal himself should have stopped the game ages ago when Hoya died and proclaimed Lay as the winner. And we both know where the rest of us would end up, in the dumpsters with a hole on either our chests or our heads. Or maybe both."

Woohyun chuckled once more when he saw how Myungsoo's expression changed, as if the younger was amused by the answer.

"I didn't expect you to even think of that. Fuck, so that head of yours really have a brain inside. Why don't you try using it always?"

"I could say the same for you." Woohyun smirked and somehow in his twisted mind he was rejoicing when he saw how Myungsoo frowned and flipped him the finger.  "But, I was wondering, who's this traitor?"

"What would you do if it's Sunggyu?" The air remained tensed as Myungsoo stared at Woohyun who still had a smirk plastered on his lips. Then he tilted his head and slowly approached Myungsoo who instinctively stood slowly and suddenly Woohyun lunged towards Myungsoo who barely dodged it.

Woohyun crouched on the floor with a feral grin as he heard Myungsoo cocked his gun behind him. He slowly turned around with a knife in his hands before he watched how Myungsoo's eyes showed nothing but a promise of a violent death for him and a cold grin appeared on the latter's lips.

"Ah, so this is how it is..."

Woohyun smirked as he licked the knife on his hand and slowly approached Myungsoo who had a firm hold on his gun. It seemed like the old Myungsoo was back and Woohyun finally felt excited about this game they're playing.

"Then I'll make sure he survives this fucked up game. Even if I had to kill all of you." Woohyun smirked as he stopped in front of Myungsoo, even tilting his head lightly to perfectly aim it on Myungsoo's gun. "I'm sure you'll do it too when it's Sungyeol, don't you?"

"Maybe. But I'm not like you, you obsessed psychopath."

"Yes, you're not like me, cause I'm much stronger than you." Woohyun said before he kicked Myungsoo's shin hard and disarmed him of his gun. He heard the younger hiss in pain before he felt Myungsoo's hand twisting his wrist and effectively disarming him of the knife. Woohyun chuckled before he launched himself towards Myungsoo and pin him on the floor, pressing another knife, which he had produced from one of his pockets, on Myungsoo's throat rather hard.

"Well, Myungsoo, I thought you said you wanted to kill me... Looks like I had expected too much from you." Myungsoo choked and struggled as he tried to free himself from Woohyun's heavy body, but it was a failed attempt. "Shall we have fun before I kill you?"

Woohyun was too busy to even notice that Myungsoo's eyes caught glimpse of the other knife and slowly, inconspicuously, tried to reach for it. Still oblivious, Woohyun smirked and leaned down to bite his ear with the knife still pressed on his neck. Fuck, he was horny and anyone walking with two legs would be alright to satisfy his pent up urges.

"Well, it's not like you really have a choice Myungsoo." Woohyun said after licking the hell of his ear before chuckling lowly.

"I...h-have...a choice...!" Woohyun was a second too slow to decipher what Myungsoo had said, and he regretted letting down his guard and giving in to his lust. The knife he was holding earlier is now stabbed deeply on Woohyun's good arm, and he howled in pain making his hold on Myungsoo loosening and the knife formerly pressed on the younger's throat landed on the floor forgotten. Woohyun hissed as he tried to hold on his bleeding arm, and Myungsoo took the opportunity to knee the older on the torso hard, sending the other off of him.

Woohyun watched as Myungsoo scrambled away from him and grabbed the gun lying on the ground before the latter aimed it at Woohyun and shot him on his thigh.

"And my choice is to kill you, Woohyun..." Woohyun heard Myungsoo said as he aimed the gun towards Woohyun's chest. He had to work fast, or else he will die at the hands of who he considers a rival. Then, his eyes landed on the discarded knife on the floor and he quickly reached for it. With a speed only a trained killer can possess, Woohyun quickly threw it towards Myungsoo with a perfect accuracy and he smirked when he caught the younger off guard.

But Woohyun clearly underestimated Myungsoo. He forgot the younger was fast with his feet, even the third fastest runner among all his classmates next to Kai and Hoya.

Woohyun growled when he missed his target who quickly ducked, but suddenly he involuntarily crouched and hissed in pain when he felt his arm let out dollops of blood. Damned that kid, he thought as he pulled out the knife buried in his arm and threw it on the floor. He heard the door slammed open and he knew Myungsoo was escaping. Woohyun tried to stand but obviously failed.

"Kim Myungsoo, I'll fucking get you so you better hide while you still can!!"

* * *

Myungsoo heard Woohyun's yell as he ran out of the room. If he was a second too late, that knife would have lodged right in the center of his head. Thank god he had injured Woohyun badly; he wouldn't catch up to him that fast. He ran towards the other end of the hallway, where the staircases are, but stopped in the middle of his run when he heard some voices coming from a nearby classroom. He slowly stopped on his tracks, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Woohyun hadn't followed him yet, then he proceeded to slowly approach the room.

He crouched against the door that was slightly ajar and tilted his head to see three persons inside talking and he almost let out a sigh of relief when he recognized the three persons inside the room.

The operative word being almost.

Inside the room were Sunggyu along with the two missing members of their team, Sungjong and Sungyeol, and it seemed as though they were...arguing. Myungsoo was about to stand and enter the room but he froze on the spot when Sunggyu suddenly caught him crouching on the door. He watched as the older slowly smirked before he raised his gun. Well, Myungsoo wasn't quite sure if Sunggyu really saw him, since those little eyes of his can fool anyone. For a moment, Myungsoo thought Sunggyu would aim at him – after all he lost his trust with all the members of the team, well except maybe with Sungyeol, but his eyes widened when Sunggyu aimed the gun at Sungyeol who instinctively backed off a step along with Sungjong.

And Myungsoo didn't know whether he should be relieved or not that Sunggyu didn't notice him, since now he had to witness how Sunggyu kills Sungyeol.

"S-Sunggyu...what the..." Myungsoo swallowed hard, torn between barging inside the room or not. After all, who's to say that Sunggyu won't kill him first?

"I'm sorry Sungyeol. We both know alliances will soon end, and ours have come to an end."

"You...traitor!" Sungjong yelled and in a blink of an eye, Sunggyu aimed the gun at Sungjong and shot him without hesitation. Myungsoo watched with wide eyes as his heart beat increased while Sungjong fell on the floor with a thud. He wanted to yell, shout and barge in the room and kill Sunggyu, because fuck, Woohyun was right. He will kill everyone if he needs to just to protect Lee Sungyeol. But unfortunately, his body isn't following his mind. His cold killer personality took over him as he helplessly watched as Sungyeol backed off into a wall with Sunggyu in front of him.

Myungsoo bit his lip when his eyes met Sungyeol's. He could definitely see the shock in his eyes for a moment before those orbs pleaded him to save him.

"M-Myungsoo..." He saw how Sungyeol mouthed his name before Sunggyu shot him. Myungsoo was sure the look on Sungyeol's slowly dying eyes would forever hunt him, if he ever survives the night. He heard Sunggyu snicker inside the room and before Myungsoo could see the older's face, someone covered his mouth and dragged him away from the hallway towards the other room.

Myungsoo tried to struggle and yell, but the person holding him whispered gently on his ear.

"Shh, don't even try to shout or we're both dead meat." Myungsoo was as scared as hell when he was pulled inside the room and the hand was removed from his mouth. He was suddenly pushed down on a crouching position with his captor behind him. Fuck, he didn't know which one was worse, getting caught by Woohyun on a killing rampage, getting killed by the sly Sunggyu or getting killed by an anonymous person who dragged him inside the random classroom.

"What the fu–" Myungsoo turned around and his "savior" quickly covered his mouth while a finger was placed in front of his lips, telling him to keep quiet.

And honestly, he didn't know if he should feel relieved or not when he saw who his captor is.

Before Myungsoo could speak, though, they both heard a door opening followed by heavy footsteps echoing on the hallway along with a shrill sound of a whistle, a tune that was somehow familiar with Myungsoo, cause fuck that tune's title was the topic he and Sunggyu were talking about a few days ago.

Nocturne.

God damned that hamster.

The whistle along with the footsteps eventually died down until the deafening silence enveloped the whole floor. Then Myungsoo saw how his "savior", he decided to call him that from now on, let out a loud sigh and stumble on the floor.

"Well, aren't you going to kill me now?" Myungsoo can't help but mutter the words, after all if Sunggyu could kill Sungyeol and Sungjong without a hint of hesitance and guilt, who's to say this guy won't?

"You know, Myungsoo, a simple thank you would do. If I wanted you dead I would have grabbed two good opportunities already, especially earlier while you were watching the scene inside the room with all your defenses down. I would have just shot you, you know." Well, he clearly has a point, indeed. After all, his "savior" was the only person who can still smile amidst the death and violence he had encountered that night, the only person who wouldn't hesitate to save a team member even at that critical moment of the game, the person who was considered a genius fool and who only happened to save his stupid and careless ass. Twice already that night. 

Jang Dongwoo.

* * *

"Well, fuck. I never expected Sunggyu to be the black horse of the game." Dongwoo looked up and chuckled lightly while Myungsoo ruffled his hair in annoyance. "God damned that hamster, I'll kill him."

"Well, if Woohyun doesn't kill you first. I heard someone almost got killed earlier."

Myungsoo smirked and leaned against the cold wall. Both were still crouched on the floor and hiding on the dark walls of the random classroom they entered earlier, and they really didn't know what to do next. Should they kill each other now like how Sunggyu killed three of their team members?

"You were there earlier? Why didn't you even save me?"

"You two were entertaining to watch, that is until you decided to get out of the damned classroom." Dongwoo said with a smile as he recalled the scene earlier. "It was kinda interesting to know which among the two most feared students of this school would win. Too bad, Tao already died. Would have been an interesting three-way battle."

"Good thing he hasn't followed me out."

"Well, he tried but...I may or may have not put him to sleep again."

“Dongwoo, are you putting me at a disadvantage with you saving my butt always?" The blue haired boy chuckled and shrugged, mirth playing with his orbs.

"Maybe?"

"Speaking of the devil, you know, that psychopath of a classmate we have told me something earlier." Dongwoo tilted his head and glanced over the younger, urging him to continue with a small smile.

"If Sunggyu did kill Hoya, as you have claimed, then shouldn't we be disqualified already? I mean, Lay's still out there, his torch is still unlit. And we both saw how Sunggyu killed Sungjong and Sungyeol." Dongwoo sighed as he glanced over the windows overlooking the school grounds. Indeed, Lay's torch remained unlit, and it only confused him more as two more torches were lit on Team A's row. Sungyeol and Sungjong. Something fishy is really happening, and he doesn't know if it's good or not.

"I don't really know." Dongwoo muttered as he closed his eyes. "I wish I could tell you the answer but I'm as confused as you are."

"So what are we gonna do now?"

"I don't know. I don't wanna risk killing Sunggyu until that torch is still unlit." Dongwoo muttered as he slowly stood, then threw his rifle towards Myungsoo who caught it with a shocked expression on his face.

"W-what..."

"You're out of ammos aren't you? Take it, I think it's got enough bullets to make you survive through the remaining hours of the game." Dongwoo smiled as he dusted his pants before ruffling Myungsoo's hair affectionately, like a hyung to a dongsaeng. Dongwoo knows that he just put himself on a disadvantage; after all, giving Myungsoo his most powerful weapon that's almost fully loaded can mean he's committing suicide.

But then again, it seems like Myungsoo needed the gun more than he does.

"Dongwoo...why? What about you?" Dongwoo just shrugged and peaked through the small windows of the door of the classroom, making sure the coast was clear before he slowly opened the door.

"I've had my fair share of fun already. And besides a simple pistol is all I need if I ever encounter Lay. Do me a favor and kill that Kim Sunggyu for me." Dongwoo heard Myungsoo chuckle and it sent his lips upward to form a small smile. Then he heard a small shuffle behind him and the sound of a gun being cocked behind him echoed through the quiet room. Despite the danger, the sound made him smirk.

He didn't expect Myungsoo to use his own gun against him this early.

"Dongwoo hyung." Dongwoo swallowed and slowly raised his hands in the air. Well, only one can survive this game anyway, so he's bound to die sooner or later.

"I'm really thankful for all the things you did for me for tonight, and I swear I'm really going to kill Sunggyu not only for you but for Hoya and Sungyeol and Sungjong as well." The older then heard the gun being put down and he glanced over his shoulder to find Myungsoo smirking at him. "But the next time I see you, I won't hesitate to kill you, even if it's your gun I'm using."

Dongwoo let out a laugh and placed his hands behind him before he smiled one last time at Myungsoo.

"Don't disappoint hyung then." He said before he raised his right hand to give a small wave before he stepped out of the room. "Got to go find Lay, so we could wrap things up for tonight. I bet he's hiding somewhere waiting to be discovered after everyone's dead. See you later Myungsoo." He said before suddenly stopping halfway through the hallway.

"By the way, don't come near the infirmary, I have a feeling Woohyun will visit that place once he wakes up." Myungsoo chuckled and Dongwoo then took quiet steps towards the staircase with a smile, leaving Myungsoo who went out of the room as well and walked towards the other end of the hallway. He's been to almost every corner of the school and he still has no idea where to find the only remaining member of team B.

"Stupid brat." He muttered to himself as he passed by the first floor and almost cringed when he had to walk on the still bloody hallway where Woohyun almost amputated Tao's corpse. "Well, they should have at least cleaned the hallway when they took Tao's body."

Dongwoo then proceeded to suck in his breath, unable to take the stench of dried blood all over the hallway and it made him swallow whenever he would step on something creepily soft and he knew that was supposed to be a part of Tao's body. He immediately regretted passing by the hallway when there are other hallways leading out of the main building to choose from.

It seemed to take forever until he reached the end of the hallway, but the stench of blood and death still lingered even if he was steps away from the damned hallway. And it's making him nauseous in all honesty.

'Just a few more steps, Dongwoo, just a few more steps...' He repeatedly chanted through his mind as he avoided looking at the corner where a puddle of blood was residing and he suddenly thought of Kai. It made Dongwoo quicken his steps and as soon as he reached the outside of the building, he took big gulps of air. "Ahh, finally, fresh air."

Dongwoo stretched and loudly moaned as he felt his stiff muscles relaxed a bit. He slightly bent forward, trying to relax his hips when his eyes caught something few feet away from him. Curiosity got the best of him and soon he was walking towards the object with cautious steps. As soon as he reached the thing glistening under the moonlight, he felt his eyebrows furrowed.

"What the hell is this doing here?" He crouched down and picked up a tattered piece of paper with a map of the school. "Shouldn't this be on the bulletin board?"

And then he found himself freeze when he saw a certain building on the map. His mind suddenly began to work and it was as if a missing piece finally completed. His feet suddenly started moving on its own and he found himself running towards a place he hadn't thought of. If Lay isn't on the main building, nor was he on the gym, then there could only be one place he could be hiding.

The library. 

He found himself running towards the secluded building, the only building he hadn't been into and he felt his heart pound wildly on his chest. When he arrived in front of the dark building though, he didn't know what he should do next. After all he only has a pistol with less than half of the bullets loaded.

Okay, so he lied to Myungsoo about only needing a pistol. Clearly he's underhanded and he put himself on a disadvantage again. He took shaky steps inside, ignoring all the scary stories his classmates told him before, well to hell with them cause they’re all dead anyway. And it was funny how big and dark clouds suddenly passed by the sky, entirely covering the moon and taking away the only source of light Dongwoo have. Now the building looked one thousand times scarier than it was just barely a minute ago.

“What the hell, now I’m scaring myself thinking that my dead classmates will haunt me here…” Dongwoo muttered as he took his gun from his holster and entered the dark and quiet building. It sent shivers up his spine as he entered the very dark library, where Dongwoo considers the homiest place on the school. The place always looked warm, bright and very welcoming during the day and there was little to no murders that happened there cause the bitchy librarian would kill the students himself before they could splatter blood on his “precious” books. It had been a sanctuary to Dongwoo during the day, but right now it looked like a gateway to hell.

He took careful steps with his gun prepped on his hands as he tried to adjust his eyes on the dark. Damn that idiot for choosing this eerie place as his hideout. Like, he’s also a scaredy cat, right? Who, in their right minds, would hide until everyone dies without even fighting at least one opponent? Damn, he should have brought a flashlight for this stupid game.

His thoughts were interrupted though when he suddenly stepped on something.

“What the…” Dongwoo muttered as he took off his foot to inspect what he just stepped onto. Confusion washed over him for a moment as he saw a shiny object that wasn’t supposed to be in the library: a scalpel. But his confusion was immediately replaced by fear when he realized that it wasn’t just a normal scalpel.

It was a bloodied scalpel.

His heart started beating fast as his hands took the scalpel. Did someone already kill Lay? Or did someone got killed from their team again? Dongwoo swallowed hard as his hands felt the blood covering the cold scalpel, and he could tell that the scalpel was used barely an hour ago. The liquid was still moist and it sent another shiver down his spine.

Could it be that Lay had been dead at the same time Hoya and Sehun died? If so, then why does the last torch for team B remained unlit?

A rustle came somewhere and suddenly, moonlight flooded through the windows and Dongwoo was greeted with a sight of a trail of blood ending where he found the scalpel. The sounds also seem to come from the room and soon his body moved on its own accord and followed the trail of blood, with every step that he took his heart beat increased and different scenarios started playing in his mind. What if it was trap? What if Lay set it up to corner him somewhere he has a big advantage of winning? What if…

What if Lay’s already dead and the killer is waiting for him at the end of the blood trail?

The trail, as much as Dongwoo disliked it, was just short and it led him towards a room he never saw before despite his frequent visits on the library. In fact, the door was almost invisible if not for the fact that it was slightly ajar and Dongwoo would have shrugged his way ventured further into the dark library. Now he wonders if the higher ups knew of this room, because surely the room was very well hidden.

He took a deep breath as he looked around the room. One, two, three, four. Four cameras were placed on the entrance of the library and Dongwoo was very sure that none of those four are capturing him right now, as if the cameras were…moved. Something fishy is really going on. Then he slowly pushed the door gently, still wary and alert for sudden attacks but he found none as soon as he finally opened the door. And he was almost relieved to see a cat rolling around the floor, if not for the figure lying beside it as well as that familiar bracelet locked onto the cat’s neck.

His insides shook with fear as he slowly approached the figure, and he winced as his shoes suddenly felt cold and wet. He almost scrambled away as he realized that the room was almost flooded with blood but what he saw next as he took another step made him froze on the spot.

Around the corpse were organs, stomach, intestines and…a heart. His hand immediately dropped the scalpel and it made a muffled clinging sound as it landed on the puddle of blood. The color on his face drained as his eyes finally saw the state of the body in front of him. The torso was ripped open and he could clearly tell that all the blood on the floor came from that opened part of the body. It was disturbing, how the corpse seemed to be played at first and tortured while he's dying. And it seemed like the killer enjoyed every single second of it.

He didn’t even flinched when he heard that electrifying buzz somewhere, followed by a painful purr and the smell of something burning, because more confusion aroused when he had the guts to look at the corpse's face that is contorted in pain.

It was Lay.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/15/2017: Edited Grammatical errors

Woohyun groaned as he finally woke up from his slumber. His whole body felt heavy and numb and the scene of what happened earlier came back on his mind. He growled and tried to stand, but end up clawing the walls instead.

"God damn it." Woohyun growled, hitting the wall with his fist before he limped his way towards the door. Damn that Myungsoo, if he gets his hands on him he'll make sure that bastard will suffer a slow and painful death. And that meddlesome Jang Dongwoo will get what he deserves after meddling with him. But right now he needs to cure himself, or at least take out the bullet buried on his thigh.

Well, it was a good thing that he was on the same floor as the infirmary; at least he didn't have to crawl down the stairs on the way to the room.

The journey towards the infirmary seemed like an eternity, and his remaining ego disappeared when he finally reached the room and he was thankful that no one was there to witness his state of helplessness. At least, Sunggyu wasn't around to witness it.

As soon as he settled on the floor with all the things he needed, he quickly ripped his pants, exposing his bleeding thighs. He took a deep breath before he splashed the disinfectant on his leg a little too much than what is required, and obviously it made him almost yell in pain. He bit his lower lip as he grabbed the scalpel with his good hand and slowly but firmly started to cut through his skin. His breath started to become shallow and he fought hard to stay conscious beneath all the pain and nausea that is invading his senses.

"Just...a... little longer..." Woohyun muttered as he finally made a cut on his thigh and opened it gently, giving way to volumes and volumes of blood seeping out from the newly opened wound. "Fuck..."

His hand then took the syringe that was filled with anesthesia, so much for trying to be manly and brave, before he plunged it on his thigh, making him groan in agony as the liquid entered his body. He shut his eyes tightly, leaning his body on the wall as he waited for his thigh to get numb. After a few minutes, he then took the tweezers when he saw a part of the bullet buried on his muscle. Woohyun took another deep breath before he let the tweezers grab the end of the bullet. Without wasting a second, he plucked the bullet out of his thigh as fast as he could and he almost regretted it.

He's never going to let his thigh get shot again.

He threw the tweezers on the floor, hearing the bullet come in contact with the cold tile before rolling away from him. The boy took moments to catch his breath before he reached for a rag and tried to clean off the dried blood on his thigh, then he proceeded to grab the needle and thread. He almost fainted when he watched how the needle pierced his skin, and he felt his stomach churning. He could already taste the sourness of the bile rising up his throat but he willed it down as he continued to stitch up his opened skin. It felt like it took forever when he finally finished stitching his skin successfully and he was thankful he did attended classes on this god damned school.

Woohyun never noticed how he was sweating a lot and he didn't mind it at all as he started bandaging his still bleeding arm after he soaked it with the disinfectant. He swore that that transparent liquid was an innovation of the devil. He had to give it to himself though as he managed to wrap the bandage around the wound decently. Thank god for First Aid and Survival classes.

"Well, fuck, Nurse Lee would surely hire me as his assistant if he finds out about this." Woohyun half chuckled as he slowly glanced over the windows and judging from the position of the moon, it's almost close to midnight. He sighed and settled on the floor comfortably, he might have taken the bullet out but it will take some time for his leg to be useful again, well at least half an hour would suffice for Woohyun to recuperate.

And Woohyun decided that freaking Kim Myungsoo can wait and live his life to the fullest for the next half hour before he let himself succumb to a light sleep.

* * *

A sad tune in the middle of the night.

Nocturne.

It was ironic how Myungsoo's hearing the god damned tune right now as he walked on the dark hallways. He found himself walking towards the source of the soft tune, and somehow he still feels shivers ran down his spine knowing who was waiting for him on the room where the tune was coming from.

The tune got louder with every step he takes and when he stopped, he found himself in front of the music room. Myungsoo was thankful that his hand didn't shake when he opened the door, just in time that the song reached its end. It was silent as Myungsoo stood on the doorway while he eyed the person behind the grand piano, the only musical instrument present in the room, who had his eyes closed with a sadistic smile on his lips.

"I knew you'd come." Myungsoo wasted no second as he raised his gun and aimed it at his real enemy.

Kim Sunggyu.

"Easy, Myungsoo." Myungsoo watched as the other stood from his seat and walked around the sleek, black piano with his finger tracing its smooth exterior. "You know, when we had that conversation about Nocturne a few nights ago, an idea came up to my mind."

Myungsoo remained silent, his eyes locked onto Sunggyu and his next movements. His feet dragged him inside the room as he stalked Sunggyu like a predator to his prey.

"Did you know that this isn't the first time that the school decided to have the finals at night?"

Myungsoo tilted his head as he watched Sunggyu climbed up the piano and sat on it with both his feet dangling on it. He looked like a cute and innocent teenager, but Myungsoo knew it otherwise. Sunggyu was a cute and innocent yet dangerous opponent in this game. He had witnessed how Sungyeol and Sungjong took the fact for granted. Probably, Hoya did too.

"What are you saying?"

"Ten years ago, another batch of unfortunate teenagers had been forced to kill their batch mates in a ruthless and deadly game inside an abandoned building with only a knife and a gun as weapons. Only one out of the 20 students will be able to survive." Myungsoo cocked his eyebrow as Sunggyu continued the story, but not a single second did he let his defenses down.

"Was that...the batch that was never heard of again?"

"Yes. Some say they were killed by the staffs because they refused to kill each other. Some said they did really escape, while some said only two survived, one of them watching all his comrades get killed in front of him and the other one was said to be a traitor." Myungsoo scoffed as he held his gun tighter while he tilted his head. He eyed Sunggyu with a smirk before he replied.

"Just like how you're the traitor in our group?" Sunggyu chuckled and hopped down the piano before he slowly approached Myungsoo. The latter was taken aback slightly, but he never moved nor did his stance faltered with the gun still pointed at Sunggyu who was now standing in front of him.

"I don't know what you're talking about. But I know one thing..." Myungsoo swallowed as he let Sunggyu push the gun down while he leaned over his shoulder to whisper on his ear.

"One of the two who survived is Principal Choi, and he was the traitor."

"Why should I believe you?" Myungsoo didn't know how but he felt Sunggyu's fingers slowly taking the gun from him and stupid Myungsoo just stood there, with all his defenses down.

"Because..." The younger's heartbeat raced as Sunggyu leaned towards his ear again and whispered something that made Myungsoo widened his eyes.

_Is he for real?_

But before Myungsoo could react, Sunggyu leaned closer to him once more. But this time it was so close that the former could feel the latter's hot breath on his neck while he hissed. "Don't move now, someone's walking towards this room and I have a hunch it's Woohyun."

"Wow, I didn't know you have a 'Woohyun radar' too." Myungsoo quickly shut his mouth when he felt the gun pressing on his side. "I was just kidding. How sure are you it's not Dongwoo? Did you kill him already too?"

"So many questions, so little time Myungsoo. Look, if you wanna live and see Woohyun get eliminated in this game, you'll follow what I will tell you." Myungsoo breathed deeply as he weighed his options. Should he really trust the guy who killed three of their team mates while Lay was still alive?

"Come on, you want Nam Woohyun out of your way, don't you?" Well, it was tempting, really. So tempting that Myungsoo found himself smirking at Sunggyu.

Well, what could go wrong? Either way, Woohyun goes out of the way and it's just a matter of who gets to do it.

It's either Woohyun's rival or Woohyun's object of affection. It's a win-win situation for Myungsoo and he clearly likes it.

But...how sure is he that Sunggyu won't kill him?

"If I were you, I'd listen to what he's saying." Myungsoo stiffened as he heard someone's frighteningly familiar voice from behind followed by footsteps entering the room. He felt a headache starting to form as the newcomer walked slowly towards them.

"I thought you're supposed to do the things I told you to..." Myungsoo widened his eyes as he saw the newcomer stand beside Sunggyu with that smile of his.

 

Fuck these mind games is seriously fucking up his mind. He didn't know who to trust anymore.

"...Dongwoo."   

* * *

_"Let's go, I passed by the torches and I think it will only be a matter of time before there's only one opponent left... I think everyone should be waiting in the base right now for the final plan." Hoya chuckled but stopped walking when he felt that Sunggyu wasn't following him. He glanced over his shoulder with his gun resting on his shoulder._

_"Hey, are you go_ _–_ _" Hoya's eyes widened as he turned and met Sunggyu's gun aimed at him. He slightly stepped back and quickly aimed the gun at Sunggyu, but his insides rattle as Sunggyu stepped towards him._

_"Sure. Don't worry, I'll tell them you unfortunately can't join the last meeting."_

_"You...you can't kill me! There's still some opponents le_ _–_ _" Hoya tried to reason out and he swallowed as he realized he's backed onto the wall._

_Shit, he should have never let his guard down._

_"I can. Who cares about rules when I'm going to kill you later anyway." Before Hoya could comprehend, Sunggyu smirked and pulled the trigger, shooting a clearly dumbfounded him. The former instinctively closed his eyes, unable to use his fast feet as he remained rooted on the spot with his heart pounding and his mind blank. He expected to feel numb somewhere and to stumble on the floor while bleeding his life out but none of it happened._

_His left eye twitched and slowly opened only to find Sunggyu's gun still raised up with smoke coming from it. He opened his eyes and tilted his head in confusion._

_"What the..." Hoya's breath was knocked out of him as Sunggyu suddenly lunged at him and pinned him on the wall with the former's arm pushing on his neck. But something was off..._

_Sunggyu wasn't putting all his force on the attack. That, or Sunggyu's weak._

_"Pretend to struggle..." Sunggyu hissed as he puhed his arm further, but not that hard to choke him. Hoya's brows furrowed as he tried to pretend to struggle and he could say he's getting good at acting._

_"What the hell are you doing?" Hoya hissed as Sunggyu took something from his back pocket and Hoya stopped pretending. Shit, he really needed to struggle. Sunggyu leaned over and whispered on Hoya's ears._

_"We're escaping." Hoya's body stiffened and Sunggyu nudged him. "Don't stop struggling, damn it." Hoya shakily pretended to struggle as Sunggyu continued._

_"I'm going to inject something on you. It would slow down your heart to the point like your almost dead..."_

_"Blowfish poison?"_

_"Yes. You'll most probably wake up after an hour or so. By that time, you'd be on the headquarters, Sungyeol and Sungjong will be there...I want you to kill the staffs there..." Hoya then spotted a syringe on Sunggyu's other hand and he really struggled this time. Sunggyu was dead serious and it scared him._

_God, what if it's another poison? Should he really let Sunggyu inject that liquid on him?_

_"W-why...why should I trust you? Why should I do what you say?"_

_Sunggyu smirked and suddenly punctured the syringe on Hoya's arm and the latter hissed in pain. But the pain was slowly overcome by drowsiness. Hoya barely heard his mutter as he slowly slid down the floor._

_"I'm not asking you to trust me...as your leader, I'm commanding you."_

Hoya suddenly jerked and slowly opened his eyes, his heart pounding fast as he regained his breathing. He tried to scan the place he was currently in. He could hear muffled sounds of keyboard typing and some voices that seemed familiar to him but it was all blocked by something. He was inside a room, he concluded, and the sounds came from the outside.

Well, fuck, does this mean he’s still alive?

His eyes met a gray colored ceiling and he was so sure that he wasn’t in the school anymore. He slowly glanced over the corner of his eyes and he immediately regretted it.

Beside him was Tao, and it made his stomach lurched. There was a Swiss knife buried on Tao’s right eye and his face was full of blood. He almost cursed as he dared to scan his eyes down but someone suddenly hissed beside him.

“Don’t move too much. Close your eyes, there are staffs that come inside every so often.”

"S-Sungyeol?"

"I think he woke up rather earlier than expected." Hoya resisted the urge to jump in joy and praise Sunggyu as he heard Sungjong's stone cold voice echoing through the walls.

Well, what do you know, Sunggyu really was telling the truth.

"So does this mean I'm still alive?"

A soft laugh resounded through the walls and Hoya cocked an eyebrow, resisting the urge to turn towards the source of the soft laughter in fear of someone suddenly barging through the door.

"Well, we're obviously talking with Team B's dead members beside us. What do you think?"

"Well, fuck. How did you plan all of this?" Hoya asked softly as he swallowed the vile rising up when the smell of blood permeated his nose. He could already hear the smirk from the other two when he grimaced at the stench coming from the corpses surrounding them.

"You okay there, Hoya?" Hoya heard Sungjong snorted and the former resisted the urge to land a punch on the boy's pretty face.

"Sorry, Sungjong, but I'm not used to having my victims' corpses lie just a few feet away from me." Hoya huffed as Sungjong let out another set of snorts. Hoya was this close to grabbing the knife buried on Tao's eye and flung it towards Sungjong's direction if not for Sungyeol's voice interrupting them.

"Hoya, did you know that this wasn't the first time they held the final exams at night?" Sungyeol's voice echoed through the walls and Hoya shook his head lightly, though he doubted the guy saw him. But nevertheless, Sungyeol continued.

"Have you heard about the batch ten years ago that was never heard of again?"

"Yeah. The batch that was killed by the staff because they refuse to kill each other."

"Well, guess what?"

"What?" Hoya scrunched his nose in distaste; he hasn't got all night to play guessing games with Sungyeol. "Make it fast Sungyeol. I think this isn't the right time to play the guessing game with you." Sungyeol chuckled as he turned towards Hoya with amusement on his face.

"They were the first ones to experience this kind of exam. They were sent to an abandoned building on a remote island to kill each other until only one survives. And frighteningly so, the rumor about them wasn't true. More than half of the students survived and most of them escaped this hell of a school and prevented themselves from killing each other, well most of them." Hoya almost sat up when he heard the information. The students escaped? How? Too many questions swam on Hoya's mind but he can't make his mouth voice all of them. Luckily, Sungyeol continued and it answered the questions lingering on Hoya's mind.

"But in order not to give the younger students an idea to repeat what they had done, they spread rumors that all of them were killed by the faculty, staff and even the principal himself since they refuse to follow the rules. After all it was their fault. They were too lax about the students' security when they were out of the school grounds, and none of them, not even the principal foresaw that the students would use the opportunity to escape when they changed the venue and time of the exams."

Hoya let out a small whistle. It must have been a slap on the principal back then, that the students he trained to have assassin skills would one day turn against him and use those skills he personally taught them against him. The person or persons who thought of this idea must be geniuses.

"Well, now that that's out of the bag, what does the story have to do with us?" Hoya voiced out a bit louder and he almost forgot that Sungjong was with them in the room, not until he heard that annoying snort of his.

"Well aren't you the brainscattered one as always?" Hoya had already formulated those colorful strings of words to spat out to Sungjong but a faint yet firm sound of something similar to an explosion interrupted his thoughts followed by the frantic footsteps and outraged yells and murmurs echoing from the other side of the door.

"W-what...what was that?" Hoya muttered as Sungyeol and Sungjong both sat up and gathered the weapons scattered from the room, the very weapons their opponents used just a while ago. His eyes went wide, as if he was scared that someone might barge in and find out they're still alive. "H-hey what are you guys doing? Are you out of your minds?"

"Well, what do you think are we doing?" Sungjong smirked as he picked the rifle near Kai's corpse and threw it towards Hoya who caught it easily, but the confusion on his face never faded.

"Hoya, what Sungjong wanted to say is that..." Sungyeol slowly walked towards the door with a gun in his hand. "...the sound you heard means it's time to escape."

* * *

Sunggyu sighed for the umpteenth time that night as he lounged on the bed with his eyes glaring at the unconscious man lying on the floor. It had been close to midnight already and the guy in front of him is still asleep. It wasn't really hard to look for the only member Sunggyu hadn't talked to for the night. Stupid lover boy chose to sleep in the infirmary in the open with potential weapons – injections and scalpels to kill him.

What if an enemy still lingered and found him in this weak and vulnerable state?

Sunggyu found himself chuckling. Of course, there's no more enemy left.

Except for one.

The sound of the clock tower's bell in the middle of the campus resonated through the stillness of the night and Sunggyu was more than happy to hear the 'bing bong' sound it created. The guy in front of him quickly bolted upright, hand quickly grasping the weapon lying beside him, and Sunggyu chuckled softly. Soon enough, the weapon was aimed at Sunggyu's direction as the still disoriented man hissed at him.

"Who's there?"

The snarl was supposed to be frightening. The scary kind that would make someone shake in fear and retaliate back hiding inside his mother's skirt. But for Sunggyu, it seemed amusing, funny even that he wasn't able to control a chuckle coming out of his mouth. He hopped down the bed he was sitting on and started walking towards the other occupant of the room with his hands raised up mockingly.

"No need to get all defensive. It's just me, Woohyun-ah." Sunggyu found himself purring out the last word as he stepped out of the shadows and smiled at Woohyun who seemed confused at first and Sunggyu thought he had the boy wrapped up in his finger again. But Sunggyu was shocked to say the least when Woohyun didn't lowered his weapon. He was clearly taken aback, but he didn't let it show on his features. After all, when all else fails, pretending to be naïve and innocent always works.

And so he did, with a tilt of his head and an adorable pout that he was sure the younger wouldn't resist, he looked down at Woohyun and muttered softly. "What's wrong?"

"You. You never called me Woohyun-ah." Woohyun said as he eyed Sunggyu with suspicious eyes that made Sunggyu smirk mentally.

Ah, so the boy isn't all muscles and stupidity. He didn't know Nam Woohyun was that observant. Or maybe it's just that obsessive side of him that's taking over.

"Is...is that wrong? I just wanted us...to...be close..." Sunggyu could already smell victory when he saw how Woohyun's eye twitched ever so lightly. Using the pity and hurt voice is always a trump card for Sunggyu. No one can resist it, especially not someone who he knows is head over heels obsessed with him.

"You had 11 years to do it. Why do it now when there's no more of Team B left?"

Well, what do you know. The boy is more intelligent when he just woke up. It seemed like Plan A and Plan B isn't working so Sunggyu resorted to the last option.

Aggression.

He sauntered towards Woohyun with careful steps, the latter still wary and on guard with the knife still aimed at Sunggyu and a determined glare never leaving his features. With a stoic face, he carefully crouched down Woohyun's level and slowly pried the knife off of the younger's slightly shaking fingers.

"Let's stop pretending Woohyun-ah, we both know you won't have the heart to kill me." Sunggyu whispered as he tossed the knife somewhere before sliding his fingers in between Woohyun's and twining them together. Then he slowly, but carefully, placed himself on Woohyun's lap and straddled him. The shock on Woohyun's face was priceless and it made Sunggyu lick his lips.

Lover boy didn't know what he had gotten himself into.

"You know..." Sunggyu purred as he purposedly adjusted himself on Woohyun's lap, smirking as he saw how Woohyun hitched a breath when he ever so lightly grounded on that growing bulge underneath his ass. "I've never thanked you for killing all those so called best friends I've had since first grade."

Sunggyu leaned forward, blowing hot air on Woohyun's ear before nibbling on it. He ground his hips a bit harder this time as he heard Woohyun try his hardest to form a coherent sentence. He really did have this boy wrapped in his dainty fingers.

"Wh--what...fuck Sunggyu...what do...you mean?" Sunggyu chuckled as he cupped Woohyun's face and leaned his forehead against the other, his hips not ceasing any movement. He let his hot breath fan Woohyun's already blushing cheeks and it sent a smirk forming on Sunggyu's lips once more.

"Everyone I befriended...they're all a threat to me. And you, dear Woohyun, played the knight in shining armor for me." Sunggyu said before he teasingly nibbled on Woohyun's lower lip, preventing the younger from saying anything. He swiped his tongue teasingly over the lip before he whispered hotly on the other's ear.

"Yes, Woohyun...I never liked them." He let out a sharp pant before he muttered breathily. "Take me."

It didn't take a second for Woohyun to push Sunggyu hard on the cold floor with his lips claiming Sunggyu's in a fiery and aggressive kiss that the older didn't even resisted. Long, dainty fingers treaded through Woohyun's tousled locks as Sunggyu let out mewls and moans that were swallowed by the other's mouth. Sunggyu's legs found refuge around Woohyun's waist as it started to dry hump him into senselessness. But it wasn't enough for Sunggyu to lose his coherency.

He broke the kiss, tilting his head as Woohyun proceeded to plant kisses on his slender neck. He resisted the urge to chuckle as his eyes met a figure well hidden beneath the shadows of the room. He nodded lightly to him before he wove his fingers through Woohyun's locks once more.

"W-Woohyun-ah..." He moaned as the younger bit on his skin lightly before he tugged on the hair a bit hard, effectively catching the attention of the guy on top of him. His eyes twinkled in mischief as the other occupant of the room softly padded towards their tangled bodies with something sharp and potentially deadly in his hand. Sunggyu then looked at Woohyun who had a puzzled look before a full blown smirk appeared on his face. Woohyun's face showed epiphany and he had been a second too late as the pain of something sharp piercing his back was all he felt before drowsiness took over him. Sunggyu chuckled along with the other person who finally stepped out of the shadows to look down at Woohyun with a mocking smirk.

"Look what your raging hormones led you to. Your own death."

"Myung...soo...you...son of a..." Sunggyu chuckled once more as he cupped the cheeks of the almost unconscious Woohyun and pecked his lips lightly.

"Sweet dreams, Woohyun."

Sunggyu then pushed the guy off of him and looked at Myungsoo who had a knowing smirk on his face.

"What?"

"So, sly Sunggyu can be sultry Sunggyu as well." Sunggyu cocked an eyebrow as he watched Myungsoo chuckle and kick Woohyun's limp body on the ground. Sunggyu found himself chuckling over how immature Myungsoo looked like at that moment. "Fuck, you don't know how long I wanted to do that. By the way, why did we have to put this guy on sleep?"

"He's too troublesome awake to deal with." Sunggyu shrugged as he turned and went towards the door. He stopped midway when Myungsoo suddenly called out to him.

"One more thing, I think rejecting your friendship back then in first grade was the best decision I ever did."

"Well, it's never too late to start a friendship with you. After all, Woohyun's still...around. You might never know..." Sunggyu said with a meaningful smile that made Myungsoo stiffen before he sauntered out of the room just in time to hear a ground shaking explosion coming from somewhere inside the campus. He glanced over the still shivering Myungsoo with another round of chuckles before he called out to the dazed man.

"You coming or what?"

* * *

_“_ _You_ _’_ _ve finally found Team B_ _’_ _s last member. And it looks like you killed him too._ _”_ _Dongwoo quickly turned to see Sunggyu leaning against the doorframe with a sly smile on his face. On his feet was the body of the poor cat, still shaking a bit with a faint smoke coming out of its lithe body. Dongwoo quickly regained his senses, his hands quickly raising the pistol from his holster.  Yet instead of imposing fear on the other, a chuckle that seemed to mock Dongwoo emanated through the older as he stepped inside the bloody room._

_“_ _Good job, Dongwoo._ _”_

_“_ _Don_ _’_ _t come any closer_ _…”_ _Dongwoo growled, receiving another chuckle from Sunggyu before the latter stopped in front of him with a bright smile._

_“_ _You wouldn_ _’_ _t want to do that if I were you, Dongwoo._ _”_

_“_ _Why not?_ _”_ _Dongwoo asked as he glared at the smirking boy in front of him. Now he knows how it looks like to be face to face with the personified slyness._ _“_ _You deceived everyone and killed half of our team mates, I don_ _’_ _t see any reason not to shoot you right now._ _”_

_“_ _True enough._ _”_ _Sunggyu said before he quickly grabbed Dongwoo_ _’_ _s hand and twisted it on his back, effectively disarming the latter with his pistol. Dongwoo hissed and cursed inwardly as he felt the pain coursing through his hand. His pistol flew a few feet away from him and clearly he knows it_ _’_ _s his end._

_Too bad he won_ _’_ _t be able to see if Myungsoo would be able to kill this sly boy._

_“_ _Time to end the game, Dongwoo._ _”_ _Dongwoo could hear Sunggyu cocking his gun behind him and he could only force his eyes closed as he waited for that bullet to pierce through his skull. Finally, the sound of the gun shooting resounded on his ears and all he could do was wait for his impending doom._

_And wait._

_And wait._

_But no bullet came and he heard Sunggyu chuckling once more before he let go of Dongwoo, leaving the latter confused as he quickly stared at Sunggyu. The older was playing with his gun before he threw it on the corner of the room._

_“_ _Guess I won_ _’_ _t be needing this; it doesn_ _’_ _t even have any bullets to start with._ _”_ _The older chuckled, earning a confused look from Dongwoo. But even before Dongwoo could ask what was happening, Sunggyu beat him to it._

_“_ _Sungjong killed Lay at the same time that Sehun killed himself._ _”_ _Sunggyu said as he stared at the lifeless body of his classmates before expressing his disgust at how tortured the guy was._ _“_ _Gosh, Sungjong is one sick boy._ _”_

_“_ _But_ _…_ _but how? Lay_ _’_ _s torch is still unlit and_ _…”_

_“_ _Don_ _’_ _t you still get it?_ _”_ _Sunggyu chuckled before turning to Dongwoo with a smirk._ _“_ _Someone out there is manipulating the game to our advantage, Dongwoo, and they_ _’_ _re helping us escape. Sungyeol and Hoya and Sungjong are waiting for the signal so if you want to get out of this school alive, you_ _’_ _ll do whatever I say._ _”_  

 

Dongwoo didn’t know why, but he found himself really doing what Sunggyu told him. Cold sweat trickled down his spine as he entered the room he was instructed to go to earlier. His footsteps resounded and it bounced inside the dark and quiet room. The young boy tried whistling to shake off his fears, just like how he did earlier but it wasn't working. One wrong move and he'll end up having his insides explode in a much more painful and brutal way than how Lay's organs had been taken out.

And besides, he wasn't really fond of the Biology room. It felt as though the cadavers, which were their former classmates by the way, would suddenly jump up and haunt him with those soulless eyes.

Dongwoo let out a sigh as he shook his head. There are no ghosts, as he told himself over and over again. And he just proved himself right earlier that he should be more afraid of real persons, just like Suho or even Sunggyu, instead of those imaginary ghosts. He forced his weakening legs to move towards the middle of the room where different canisters of preserved organs, ranging from young to pre-adolescent age, and what nots from dead bodies were placed on shelves. It shouldn't send shivers down Dongwoo's spine, if only the faculty members weren't as sadistic as to put who's the owner of those preserved organs.

It's their deceased classmates as well as their hoobaes and sunbaes, of course.

He swallowed the lump forming on his throat as he passed by some of the canisters holding that genius from ten years ago Choi Minho's brain, a heart that belongs to that kind hearted senior that's 4 years older than them whose name goes along the lines of Nichkhun, and different organs owned by the monsters of their class who were just killed a few months ago, Lee Chaerin, Kim Hyorin, Ok Taecyoen and Yoon Bora.

Thank heavens they aren't alive to take part in this dangerous game. For sure, he'd already met his maker by this time if those four are still alive.

Even Principal Choi's very own sister, Choi Sooyoung, who's dead body was displayed and used as a cadaver sometimes was just a few feet away from him, because according to Principal Choi: "It's all for the betterment of the student's education."

Betterment of student's education his ass. If he knew any better, it was for the sake of revenge on his beloved sister and to satisfy the sadistic desires he had.

But nothing beats the sadism of his classmates Sunggyu, Sungyeol and Sungjong to place that bomb in this room full of the remains from previous students of this school.

_Just think that you'll be doing a favor to all those students who died with their organs displayed for all the next generation students to prod and play with. At least you'll help them rest in peace._

"Well I don't think I'll rest in peace when I find out my body parts exploded and disintegrated." Dongwoo muttered as he looked for the bomb hidden somewhere beneath the canisters and he resisted the urge to throw up when he found what he had been looking for, and it had been beside a jar containing a pair of lifeless eyes that still seemed to pierce through his soul even if it lost its expressiveness. The jar had a name taped on it, a name he so wanted to forget.

But even without the name taped on the jar, he would still perfectly know who the owner of those eyes was.

Yang Yoseob. His step brother.

The person he had first killed.

He suddenly felt the tremors of guilt as he remembered how his hands were coated with those crimson blood, and how those expressive eyes met his own while it slowly lost its life with every second that passed. And how the cackles of Principal Choi echoed when Yoseob smiled at him one last time before he stumbled on the ground, drowning in the puddle of blood that came from the wound Dongwoo had pierced.

He never wanted to kill Yoseob, the older brother that tried his best to do everything for Dongwoo despite the fact that they weren’t really blood related. He had done so much for Dongwoo that the latter planned to kill himself that day to save his hyung and to pay for all the sacrifices the older had done. They had no other choice, for the cruel and sadistic principal stated that he would only allow one of them to enter the school. But it seemed that his hyung had different plans.

It had always been Yoseob’s priority to look after his dongsaeng, even at his last breath. And he chose to sacrifice his life in exchange for Dongwoo to live. And Dongwoo didn’t know whether he should feel gratitude or guilt over the fact that Yoseob, the talented son that had so much to offer to the world, had died to let him live.

It felt as though it was just yesterday, when in reality it had been 10 years already.

“I’m sorry.” Dongwoo muttered once more, and never did he forget to utter those words every night before he sleeps and never had he really meant those words as much as he means it now. It was different to utter those words to the dark ceiling of his room compared to uttering it in front of those eyes. His hands slowly reached towards the canister, his mind only flashing memories he had shared with his hyung but he was woken from his trance when the clock on the clock tower struck midnight.

_Bing. Bong. Bing. Bong._

Dongwoo shook his head and reached for the bomb beside the canister instead, flicking a few switches making the LED Screen display the numbers 5 and 0s in blood red before it started decreasing.

Less than five minutes before the bomb detonates.

Less than five minutes before he needs to detonate the next bomb.

Less than five minutes to talk to his hyung one last time.

“It would have been nice if we’re escaping together now. Then again, I think it’s better that you’re not here to experience all those terrible things hyung.” Dongwoo muttered as he blinked his tears away. He looked at the bomb beside the canister and took a deep breath.

_02:12 and counting._

“I’m sorry hyung. Let’s see each other sometime.” With one last smile, he bolted out of the room and towards the staircase that would lead him to his next destination. Had he been a second too late, he would have been disintegrated along with all the things on that floor. He stopped his tracks as soon as he took refuge on the staircase and eyed the now burning hallway.

“Good bye, hyung.” Dongwoo whispered as he ran towards the third floor where the next bomb is located. And this time he has to be faster, because the room itself is far more dangerous than that of the previous location. One wrong move or even one second too late and he would be dying in flames and go straight to hell where he’s supposed to pay for all his sins.

He didn’t know whether he should be scared of the fact that he should be faster than he ever was or if he should be terrified that he’s going to enter the room that’s considered hell in the school. The room that no student dared to enter, and said room was already in front of a panting Dongwoo.

“Well, here goes nothing.” The young man slowly reached for the knob and slowly turned it, only to regret it as soon as he did. Dongwoo didn’t expect to see such horrifying things in that room, well a bloodied wall and someone's...head placed neatly on one of the tables to mention a few.

Well, he should have expected it though. After all the room he was in now was no other than the scariest room around, next to the Principal’s office of course.

It was no other than the faculty room.

* * *

Hoya found himself whistling as he cracked the neck of a man too agitated and focused on the computer to notice him creeping. Well, it's not like he could also notice that everyone else inside the room is already dead anyway. Really, were all the people that focused on doing their job to even notice Sungyeol's stupid attempt at being stealthy?

"Stupid boy." Hoya said with a smirk as he heard that gratifying sound of bones breaking before the man became limp on his hands. He let go carelessly, watching how the now dead body fell on the floor with a loud thud.

Well, he couldn’t blame them. After all, all the staffs were in total disarray that they didn’t even noticed Hoya, Sungyeol and Sungjong emerging from the room, more so when they started killing the preoccupied staffs. Even Principal Choi and most of the faculty are missing. Hoya had found out that more than half of the cameras were not working and the remaining ones were disconnected from time to time. Even their trackers malfunctioned during crucial times. No wonder they weren’t disqualified when Sunggyu ‘killed’ him when clearly Lay was still alive – or according to his tracker he still was, Hoya thought.

It was obvious that someone was sabotaging the headquarters to aid in their escape.

"I think that's the last one."

Hoya scanned his eyes around the room and the hairs at the back of his head suddenly rose, his instincts telling him someone was watching him. He turned around in a blink of an eye with his hand raising the gun only to come face to face with a man, obviously not of Korean descent, taller than him and looked like he was around his late twenties. He wore a smile and eyes were crinkled into small crescents but the humor wasn't present on those orbs. He had his hands raised in what seem like surrender, but Hoya can't help but feel mocked by the gesture especially when the taller guy was wearing a smirk.

"Whoa...I meant no harm. Really." Hoya tilted his head, yet the glare was still present on his eyes and is clearly directed at the person in front of him. He was so sure he had killed everyone inside, and he didn't know how this guy sneaked in inside the room without being noticed.

Stupid him for committing the same mistakes his victims had done.

"If I were you, I'd put the gun down this instant. You don't know who you're dealing with." A deep and cold voice echoed from behind Hoya and it almost made the young one curse. Well fuck, there's two of them. Hoya fought the nervousness entering his system and hoped to all gods that the person in front of him didn't see the small quiver his hand did. But the chuckle that came from the other clearly indicated that he saw.

"Now now, Kibummie, we don't want to scare our friend here, do we?" The taller man said as he finally saw who his companion, Kibummie, was. He was a tad shorter than his friend, and was wearing glasses with his hair messily styled that brought out the nerdiness yet looked good for girls to fall for. Adding the eye smile currently present on his features doesn't justify Hoya's already good description of the man. He's sure almost everyone would fall for this guy's charm.

Only, he isn't falling for it.

"Well, why don't you tell me who I'm dealing with?" Hoya muttered, keeping his self intact that only seemed to trigger the laughter from Kibum.

"It will be smart if you put the gun down, Hoya." Hoya found himself glancing over his shoulder only to see Sungyeol entering the room with blood splattered on his face and body as if he had just a killing spree while Sungjong, looking as neat as ever, was leaning on the door frame while polishing his gun. Despite the order, Hoya didn't relent and stood by his defenses.

"Why would I?" He heard another chuckle, and before he knew it, a built body was behind him, effectively immobilizing his hands while an arm wrapped tightly around his neck and his own gun pointed at his temple. He saw the taller man chuckling in front of him while he leaned his hip comfortably on the table with his arms crossed against his chest as if mocking him again.

"Because if you had, the position you're in now wouldn't have happened. Didn’t your instructors taught you to never avert your attention away from your target?" Hoya heard that cold voice again behind him before he was harshly released from the death grip. He stumbled forward, almost bumping on a very amused Sungjong and he resisted the urge to punch the arrogant boy wearing a grin that could rival that of the Cheshire cat's.

"It's stupid of you to challenge a sunbaenim, Hoya. Sorry, he’s always been the slow one, always choosing strength over logic." Sungjong remarked as Hoya stood and glanced over the men that were claimed to be their sunbaenim.

Wait. Sunbaenim?

If that's so, then it must mean that they attended the school as well. But surely he would have recognized them, especially Mister I'm so charming with my eye smile Kibummie. But even as he stared hard, the faces were all new to him.

"Staring is a bit rude, isn't it?" Kibummie chuckled and Hoya swallowed down the retort forming on his throat, just because they were his seniors.

"Hey, you should be honored, you know. It's not every day that we encounter the genius students from the batch that was never heard of again, after all they were all proclaimed dead anyway." Hoya snapped his head too fast towards the direction of the two males again, so fast he felt his neck cracking but he paid no heed. He also paid no heed on that annoying smirk forming on Kibummie's lips.

Because, hell, they're the students who escaped this hell pit.

"Hoya, meet Kim Kibum, his batch's computer whiz and charming cold blooded killer. Wouldn’t hesitate to kill you if you tick his nerves. He’s also the one responsible for the…technical glitch that’s been going on since the exam started." Sungyeol started as he gestured at Kibum who did a playful salute before he pushed his glasses up his nose.

“It was nothing really. Just so happened that your ever so cheapskate principal hired an incompetent excuse of IT personnel.”

Well, if it isn’t he arrogant, Hoya thought. He was about to retort when Sungyeol gestured at the other guy with a smirk.

"And that guy over there, is the genius who formulated the plan of escape years before and is now the one helping us out. Hoya, meet Han Geng." Hoya's eye bulged as he looked at Han Geng, but before he could even voice out his admiration and all the great feelings he's feeling right now towards Han Geng, Kibum suddenly spoke while looking at one of the many monitors in front of them.

"Seems like your friends are on the way out of the school..." Kibum said, and true to that, Hoya saw Sunggyu running with Dongwoo and Myungsoo, half carrying and half dragging an unconscious Woohyun. Then after a few seconds the screen died. Probably the fire destroyed the CCTV capturing the motions that happened in the area.

Why is Woohyun unconscious though?

“Woohyun probably ticked Sunggyu’s nerves and that sly hamster must have put him to sleep.” Sungjong chuckled, making Hoya smirk. Stupid lover boy and his stupid tendencies. Then a hand squeezed Hoya's shoulder gently and he turned to see Sungyeol nodding at him.

"Time to go." Hoya nodded and he soon followed the other two but found himself suddenly stopping as soon as he reached the door. He turned towards the two older men who remained still and relaxed on the room.

"Hey...how about you guys?"     

"Oh… Kibum and I still have an unfinished business to do, right?"

"We do?" Han Geng chuckled and gave Kibum a not so subtle nudge on his side, making the latter groan slightly in pain. “And besides, we already escaped this facility once, what makes you think we won’t be able to escape it again?”

Hoya chuckled before he nodded. Indeed, it was true, maybe he was underestimating these people when they were the ones who outsmarted everyone in the school. Hoya made a move to go but before he could, however, the Chinese called to him.

"Hey Hoya, before I forget, whatever happens, don't turn left." Hoya scrunched his brows in confusion before he nodded and followed his comrades who were already running. And Hoya swore he could already taste the freedom he had been craving for a very long time.

* * *

“Well that was close…” Dongwoo muttered as he collapsed on the grass, sweat profusely rolling down his body while he panted loudly. He could hear Myungsoo pushing a branch full of leaves obscuring his way before dumping the still unconscious Woohyun on the ground carelessly before he kneeled on the ground, trying to catch his breath.

If they had been a second too late, they would have been burned alive in that hell they called school.

Dongwoo had never seen so many things flaming up, too many to last him a lifetime of nightmares and traumas. And he swore he would never associate himself with bombs and fire for the meantime. Not that he would see a bomb again nor will he use fire again anyway.

He would totally beg Woohyun to cook for him from now on.

“We should have left this stupid jerk back in school and let him burn to death.” Myungsoo said as he kicked Woohyun on the side, but he got the shock of his life when the latter groaned and suddenly grabbed his ankle and tugged on it hard, making Myungsoo stumble on the ground with a loud thud.

“Fuck you, Kim Myungsoo. I’m not done with you yet.” Woohyun groaned and slowly sat up as he pulled on his hair, trying to ease the throbbing pain numbing his head. He heard Myungsoo cursing and Dongwoo chuckling near him, but he ignored it or rather his mind seemed to ignore it. The grass beside him rustled, and a wrapped candy, a chocolate coated caramel one –his favorite, landed on his lap. He looked up and saw Sunggyu staring at him with a small smile on his lips, and it took him all the will power not to blush.

“Eat it. It’ll make you feel better.”

Woohyun gave the older a wary stare, he couldn't help but feel uneasy after what happened between him and Sunggyu back at the school earlier. Add the fact that he really didn't know what happened nor why they were outside of the school grounds.

"Why should I even trust you?" Woohyun whispered, eyes piercing through Sunggyu's small eyes. He could faintly hear Myungsoo muttering something along the lines of 'playing hard to get', but he ignored it not when he was holding a staring contest with Sunggyu. And Woohyun didn't know where the courage to do it came from. "I don't even know where am I. For all I know, you three might be plotting to kill me now."

A few tensed seconds more and Woohyun saw how Sunggyu sighed and sat beside him. The older impatiently took the candy, unwrapped it and popped inside his mouth and glared at Woohyun. He made a few sucking sounds, not even taking his eyes off of the other.

"It's not poisoned, damn it. I even took the effort of finding out what your favorite flavor is." Woohyun thought the conversation is over, but he didn't expected Sunggyu to pull him by his collar and kiss him fully on the lips. He gasped, and Sunggyu took the opportunity to push the melting candy inside Woohyun's mouth. A few nibbles here and there before Sunggyu pulled away from Woohyun.

"Happy now? Just so you know, we escaped the school. And sorry for knocking you out, Myungsoo was a handful already and with the two of you combined, I'm pretty sure we would be burnt down to ashes already."

"Hey I heard that!" Myungsoo protested but Sunggyu paid no heed because he was too busy hiding his blush. Woohyun however, was in a daze. His mind tuned out the snides and snickers coming from Myungsoo on one corner as well as the amused chuckles coming from Dongwoo, because nothing would beat the fact that Sunggyu kissed him. He was too happy to let Myungsoo nor Dongwoo ruin his night. And besides, he still has an unfinished business with Myungsoo with those stunts he did earlier. Maybe a punch or two, a few bruises on that annoyingly handsome face, a swollen and cut lip and some broken ribs would do.

Oh, and he also has to get revenge from Dongwoo. That hit on the back of his neck hurt like hell. And he even had the audacity to do it twice, that sly backstabbing clown.

“Well, I told you we should have turned left! Now we’re freaking lost in this stupid woods! We should have never trusted the dimwit and his nonfunctioning brain!” A loud voice echoed from behind the trees followed by rustling of the grass alerted the four and stealthily positioned themselves, preparing for a counter attack. You could never be too relaxed, not when you grew up in a school that assured you little to no assurance if you’re going to live until sunrise the next day.

“Well, excuse me, but Han Geng hyung said we should never turn left! Of course I would believe him more than I would believe you, you sly and lying bitch.”

“Guys…arguing won’t bring us any good. How about we wait till the sunrise so we’ll have some light guiding us? It won’t be long before it happens anyway.”

Woohyun licked his lips as he took the knife he still had on his pocket and threw it to Myungsoo who was nearer the target. The younger caught it with ease and waited for the right time to attack. Suddenly, it all became too quiet and the four knew their targets must have sensed their presence. It seemed to take forever before the silence was broken with one footstep, and Woohyun and the others found themselves coming out of their respective hideouts, ready to pounce, only to see Hoya pointing his gun on Myungsoo who had his hand poised with the knife, ready to attack.

“Told you we took the correct turn.” Hoya chuckled as he put down the gun, making Myungsoo drop his guard and let out a sigh of relief. The others slumped back on the grassy planes as Sungyeol and Sungjong appeared from behind the trees. And Woohyun swore he had never seen Myungsoo relieved more than ever when their tall team mate appeared from the shadows.

“Yeah whatever. Got one hunch correct and he thinks he’s a genius already.” Sungjong rolled his eyes as he sat on the ground, his back leaning against a nearby tree as he finally took rest from all the exhaustion and traumatizing images he had endured earlier.

“I heard that, brat!” Hoya said as he stumbled on the ground without the care in the world, the stress finally taking a toll on his body.

“I think if you took the left turn on that fork earlier, it would have taken us back to the school.” Sungyeol said as he settled beside Myungsoo and winked at him, making the other blush and Woohyun letting out a whistle to annoy Myungsoo while Dongwoo restrained Myungsoo from pouncing a smirking Woohyun.

Sunggyu found it entertaining, to watch how his classmates – friends act like their real age, to finally smell the air freely without the fear of having someone stab your back, literally, while breathing in the fresh air. Was it just him or the air smells fresher and is void of a certain coppery smell? He finally settled down the grass, finally succumbing to relaxation and letting his oh so well built defenses down. Who would have known that their plan would work and they would be able to outwit Principal Choi and those murderous staffs?

“So what now?” Sunggyu opened his eyes, he didn’t even know when he closed them and glanced over his side to see Woohyun sitting beside him, looking up the sky which was turning to a beautiful combination of purple and orange hues.

The nocturne time is done, and the sad tune has ended for them.

“I don’t know Woohyun.” And he really doesn’t know, but Sunggyu found himself not even minding a bit. After all he has all the time in the world to catch up for the things he wasn’t able to do while he was trapped in that damned school, learning of things a mere kid shouldn’t know about. And he has all the time in the world to take back what’s left of his youth along with his new found friends, and he has all the time in the world to cherish the most precious thing that they have finally earned that night after many long years of only dreaming of it.

Freedom. 

* * *

“Don’t turn left? Does that superstition still work?” Kibum laughed as he watched the younger ones scramble out of the room. Then he turned to his side as Han Geng shrugged with a ghost of a smile gracing his lips.

“I don’t know. It’s just for fun, I guess. After all, it worked for us, didn’t it?”

“Worked for you guys, but not for me.”

“Because you turned right after taking a left turn, idiot. You and I know what I perfectly meant.” Kibum chuckled bitterly, pushing those memories from years ago back in the deepest part of his mind. Maybe he did, but it was all worth it in the end anyway. And besides, everything’s well so far, isn’t?

“I wasn’t informed that we have an unfinished business…I thought all we’re gonna do is to help those kids out and go our merry ways. Are we going to practice those killing skills again after we so have suppressed for a very long time?”

“Well, I was instructed to meet a certain classmate of ours here.” Kibum scoffed and rolled his eyes at Han Geng who walked towards the door. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say Han Geng came back to retrieve someone from this hell pit.

“You know, this is my second life already, hyung. Don’t tell me it’s gonna go down the drain.”

“Don’t worry Kibum, Hyukjae and Donghae aren’t here, so the chances of you being the sacrificial lamb is little to no percent. It’s not like you’re going to sacrifice yourself for me, is it?” Kibum just chuckled as the two of them went out of the room. Ironically, they didn't follow their own advice, as they found themselves turning left. And funny enough, they were not even a few steps away from the room they were already greeted by the sight of the person, or persons, they were looking for that night. And it made Kibum just chuckle more with the irony of things.

“Seems like we should practice what we preach, right hyung? Look at what bad luck the superstition brought us.” He muttered at Han Geng who seemed to be frozen, his eyes landing on a certain person in front of them. Kibum sighed inwardly, it seemed like he would really be playing the sacrificial lamb for tonight if Han Geng wouldn’t snap out of his trance.

“Why, hello there Siwonnie hyung, doesn’t this feel like déjà vu from ten years ago? Me, you, Han Geng hyung and Heechul hyung with that gun pointed at me and Han Geng?” Kibum chuckled, willing the shivers that ran down his spine as Siwon pulled Heechul closer by the neck and that million-dollar smile along with the deep dimples making its appearance on Siwon’s face.

“I never thought you’re still alive, Kibummie dearest…I am certain I told all the doctors to eliminate all the traitors back then…and Han Geng hyung, nice to see you again, I thought I made myself clear to never return here again in exchange for this precious vixen's life?” Andrew said, licking Heechul's ear that made Kibum disgusted and Han Geng fueled up. 

"Hannie...you didn't have to..." Heechul whispered, but choked all too soon when Siwon locked his arm around Heechul's neck tighter.

“Well, weeds don’t die easily. I thought you of all people should know that.” Kibum said, trying to speed up the flow of things as he stepped closer to Han Geng warily and nudging him slightly, hoping it would wake his senses up. Thankfully he was in his right mind again.

“What are you doing here? If I was able to escape this heaven of school, surely I won’t be considering coming back here, would I?” Siwon sneered, his arm digging on Heechul’s neck, making the guy whimper in pain. Heechul’s eyes, however, were big and glassy as they locked onto Han Geng’s and Kibum thought Han Geng's resolve would crumble again.

Geez, of all the time they act all lovey dovey and shit.

“Well, Han Geng hyung and I were instructed to do two things…” Kibum muttered as he inconspicuously took a Swiss knife from Han Geng’s back pocket before taking a step forward. “One is to get what was supposedly his…” 

Kibum tilted his head in the direction of Han Geng who seemed to have woken up fully and now on full alert before the younger played with the knife on his hand.

“And two…as you have said, we have to kill the real traitors, and that’s you Choi Siwon. Don't worry, this time I won't turn back and leave my comrades.” Kibum said with a knowing smirk before he and Han Geng lunged forward and pounced on Siwon.

* * *


	6. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunggyu thought his past wouldn't haunt him as soon as he steps out of the school premises.
> 
> But he was wrong.
> 
> Because then, he discovered the horror that dreams can bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Still brings me burdens whenever I read this, especially Woohyun's and Myungsoo's scenes. 
> 
> 1/15/2017: Edited grammatical errors and removed some unnecessary words/statements.

**dream** /ˈdri **:** m/ noun

 _plural_ dreams

 **1** [count] **:** a series of thoughts, visions, or feelings that happen during sleep

 **2** [count] **:** an idea or vision that is created in your imagination and that is not real

 **3** **a** [count] **:** something that you have wanted very much to do, be, or have for a long time

   **b** [singular] **:** someone or something that has the qualities that a person wants most

**~~4~~ ** ~~[singular] informal **:** something that is beautiful, excellent, or pleasing~~

**5** [singular] **:** a state or condition in which you are not thinking about or aware of the real things that are around you

 

_“Sunggyu…please don’t…” Sunggyu watched with empty eyes as his opponent panted heavily, crouched on the floor with blood oozing out from the large wound on his side.  The smaller guy crawled towards him, eyes still big and innocent and deer like as tears fell from them. Blood trickled down from the side of his mouth and it only made Luhan look more pathetic in Sunggyu’s eyes._

_But somehow there’s a small voice in his mind telling him to heed the words of the kid. After all, he’s as good as dead anyway, with the injury immobilizing Luhan and it’s obvious that Sunggyu had won this battle already._

_Yet, despite the little conscience that was nagging through Sunggyu, he found himself kicking Luhan who was clinging on his leg. He felt pity, remorse, to even do this to a classmate he had known for a few years or so, but he had to do this. It’s either him or Luhan lives, it can’t be both of them who will survive this exam._

_“Sunggyu…please…just until Sehun arrives…just let me…say thanks to him one last time…”_

_Sehun._

_Sunggyu scoffed, and soon he found himself dragging the smaller kid up by his collar with the knife poised in front of Luhan’s weakening heart. He didn’t know why, but when Luhan mentioned his boyfriend’s name, he felt anger and something else take over him._

_Could it be jealousy?_

_Because, fuck, never in his life had he felt that way and now, this kid in front of him still thinks of another person while hanging by the thread of life and death. And he didn’t understand it. He saw how Luhan’s eyes were different, how it portrayed something totally unfamiliar to him, and it scared him to no end._

_“Please…just…let me tell him how much I love him…”_

_Love? Is that even real? Thousands of thoughts swam through Sunggyu’s mind and it made his head ache. What is love? How do they know it’s love? How could they even find love in a place like this? Is that the emotion portrayed by Luhan’s eyes?_

_Or could it be that Luhan’s messing up his mind?_

_All thoughts were shaken aside and Sunggyu found his hand moving to its own accord. Soon, his world revolved around the warm blood soaking his hand followed by the all too familiar scent of the liquid, the heavy weight of Luhan’s lifeless body falling against his own and tainting his clothes with too much blood and the sounds of the bell ringing, signifying his victory followed by the anguished yell of Luhan’s name from someone in the audience._

_But what really struck Sunggyu the most was the way Luhan’s eyes slowly lose its life as it was still locked onto his own eyes._

_And somehow, it felt like Luhan’s eyes were mirroring his own, slowly losing its life._

* * *

Sunggyu woke up with sweat drenching his slightly shaking body. Somehow, the rain started pouring in the middle of the night and it did nothing to calm his nerves, instead it only seemed to heighten his senses more. The young lad placed his arm over his eyes, willing his heart to slow down but his efforts were futile. Maybe it was better to head to the bathroom for a quick splash.

He took a deep breath and slowly lifted the arm draped over his torso, only to have its hold on hi, tighten. It sent a small smile on Sunggyu’s lips and he tried once more to lift it. Is this the way Luhan felt when he was with Sehun?

Warm and all fuzzy inside? Protected and Safe?

It’s not like Sunggyu can’t protect himself, but maybe, just maybe, Sunggyu kind of understood why Luhan liked the feeling. And frankly speaking, Sunggyu’s starting to like it. He could even go as far as to say that he could go on like this forever. 

“Where are you going?” A husky and sleepy voice woke him up from his thoughts and Sunggyu forced a smile and caressed the arm resting on his torso.

“Bathroom.” He said and he felt the hand slowly loosen its grip on him. The older slowly slid off the warm confinements of the bed and the warmer confinements of the hug from the other person in the bed and it sent a feeling of slight loss and regret and want to return to that warm haven.

“You ok?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Want me to make something for you? Perhaps a warm milk to calm you down?” The other occupant of the bed immediately sat up, wearing a worried expression on his face.

“N-no…it’s ok. I’ll be right back.” Sunggyu managed to utter before he scurried his way towards the door with a feeling of something akin to nausea. The feeling was unnaturaly mixed with a racing heartbeat and a rush of blood to his brain and knees weak and somehow it felt as though the world had just turned a tad colorful than it was before.

And just as he was closing the door, a sudden realization hit him.

Sunggyu was jealous. He was jealous at Luhan back then. He was jealous of what Luhan and Sehun shared then. 

He was jealous.

But now, not anymore.

He shook his head and started to walk towards the bathroom when his eyes caught sight of the light coming from the other end of the hallway. Now, he was sure he turned off all the lights before he went to sleep because hell, it's not easy to earn money to pay for the bills and the rent, so who the hell left the fucking light on?

He reached the kitchen and was about to turn off the switch when he saw someone sitting on one of the chairs while facing the window, as if watching the droplets of water rolling down the window. A rush of Deja vu overcame Sunggyu with the scenario in front of him. It felt like years when they were in the same situation but in reality it was just barely a month ago, and Sunggyu didn't know whether he should smile or not.

"Can't sleep?" The other called out to Sunggyu, who slowly padded towards the table and sat next to him.

"Just...just had a dream. How about you, Myungsoo?" Myungsoo shrugged before taking a sip on his mug with his eyes still fixed on the windows. Sunggyu's small eyes wandered towards the mug in front of them and the absence of the supposed steam from the cup made him realize that the younger had been here a lot longer than he thought.

"Want some more? I was about to get some for myself anyway." Sunggyu said and Myungsoo sent the other a small smile, a real smile that Sunggyu rarely sees from the other. He took the mug from Myungsoo and walked towards the counter to brew some coffee. It looks like it's going to be a long night for them anyway. A pregnant silence surrounded both of them, but neither had any intention of breaking it. A few more moments and Sunggyu came back with two steaming hot mugs, handing Myungsoo the other one before taking his seat.

"You know...it's always nights like these that make me feel uncomfortable." Myungsoo muttered softly before taking a sip from the mug. Sunggyu, on the other hand, chose to wrap his cold hands on the warm mug with his mouth closed and eyes looking at Myungsoo, urging him to continue but the other didn't. Another moment of silence was shared with only the sound of rain echoing in the room and occasional sips from the mugs, but this time it was Sunggyu who broke the trance with a question he was dying to ask Myungsoo.

"Have you...you know, regretted killing all of them?" Sunggyu barely whispered the last part of his sentence but the soft chuckle that Myungsoo emitted assured Sunggyu that he was heard.

"Why the sudden question?"

"I... I don't know. It's just that...lately I've been dreaming about...them...and I know it's already been a month..."

"No. It's only _just_ a month hyung. Did you expect to immediately have a normal life as soon as you step out of the school premises?" Myungsoo leaned back on the chair, letting out a breath before glancing back at Sunggyu.

"I... I’ve been having dreams about Luhan for the past few nights, you know...that afternoon when I had to kill him."

"Who hasn't had dreams about all the people we killed anyway? Even I have, and it's far worse and more realistic than yours."

"It's just that I've always thought what might have happened if I didn't kill him that afternoon. Would he have forgiven me easier? Would Sehun seek out for me and kill me or would he profusely thank me for sparing Luhan?" Sunggyu said, finding his hands cradling his head while a head ache started forming once again, and the pitter patter of the rain outside is only making it worse. He unconsciously reached for the mug again, seeking for warmth, security and assurance. From what, he doesn't know.

"You had to live as well, just so happens that you're stronger than him."

"But he had to live too! He deserved to live too and everyone in the school fucking deserved to live too!" Sunggyu breathed hard, his hands were shaking and a few drops of coffee spilled from the cup on his hands yet the should have been scalding liquid rolling down his hands went unnoticed.

"You know what I think?" Myungsoo muttered and Sunggyu raised his head to look at Myungsoo. "I think you did Luhan a favor. Did you think the faculty members would allow a loser to live and continue to study when he lost a battle? At least you killed him instantly, instead of giving him a painful and slow death from the school employees, you know."

Sunggyu remained quiet even after a few minutes had already passed. Maybe Myungsoo was right, but deep down inside there was still that nagging feeling only it wasn't as strong as it was before.

"I guess Luhan was a very lucky guy indeed, even at the time of his death. And so are you."

"Why would I be lucky?" Sunggyu waited for the other's answer, but he only received a small chuckle. Instead of basking in another moment of silence, he willed his mouth open and blurted out something he first thought of, a thought that has been bugging him since his encounter with Luhan.

"Myungsoo...have you...ever felt what love is?" Sunggyu hesitantly asked and he heard Myungsoo scoff beside him. He glanced over the other and saw him wearing a bitter smirk while glaring at the window.

"I think you asked the wrong person, hyung." Sunggyu took a deep breath, maybe he did ask the wrong person, after all a person who turned out to be a ruthless killer like Myungsoo wouldn't know what love is like. "Why don't you ask Woohyun? It might not look like it, but it seems like he had already experienced it. He’s probably the only brave person among us who probably wants to experience it again so that means he's the only one who knows what love really is. And however twisted it might sound, his definition of love might be the closest to the real thing, considering what he's been through of course."

"You're teasing me again." Sunggyu frowned, earning a hearty laugh from Myungsoo. He found himself smiling though, because he thought that maybe Myungsoo is right again. Maybe Woohyun really knows what love is, and even if he shows it by killing people for Sunggyu and however sadistic and twisted and sick it might look like, it can be the closest thing Sunggyu can grasp if he wants to know anything about the weird and unfamiliar feeling.

Unfortunately, their small bubble of happiness was popped by the sound of someone yelling followed by something shattering. The laughter died down and the smiles were quickly erased from their lips only to be replaced by frowns. They both looked away from each other, trying to block out the loud sobs that came from one of the rooms but try as they might, the loud sobs aren't going away. Not even the rain which seemed to have gotten stronger can't drown the horrifying sound.

"Who...who's that?" Sunggyu whispered, his hands gripping the mug tightly, and despite the fact that he asked, he felt like he didn't wanna know who it was.

"Dongwoo. He's been like this for a few consecutive nights already." Sunggyu almost scoffed. It can't be Dongwoo, right? It can't be the same lively and funny and strong Dongwoo, can it?

"I... I should check up on him..." But before Sunggyu could even move a limb, Myungsoo already had a strong grip on Sunggyu's wrist, shocking the older.

"Don't. Trust me."

"Why not? He needs someone to comfort him, Myungsoo."

"Hoya tried once, he almost got a broken arm and a split lip. At the same time. Dongwoo usually isn't himself after having nightmares, you see. He can't tell who's real and who isn't, so if you don't want possessive Woohyun going berserk because you earned a bruise or a cut then I suggest you leave him alone for the meantime." Sunggyu bit his lip, he guessed some old habits really die hard, like how Dongwoo blindly defends himself perfectly even if he isn't in the right state of mind. Just like him, Dongwoo suffers the same only he takes it far worse than any of them. "If it makes you feel any better, you should know we all tried to calm him down, and yes even Woohyun, but we all end up having bruises or cuts. Or both."  

And suddenly it all makes sense to him. How he woke up one day to find Sungjong sporting a band aid on his cheek claiming he scratched himself, or when Sungyeol hissed every time someone bumps onto his arm a few days ago, or when Woohyun accidentally groaned painfully one night when he accidentally hugged him a little bit tighter.

"H-how come I've never heard of this before? How come no one has told me about this?"

"Well, we all have to thank Woohyun for that, don't we? I guess he did a good job in tucking you to sleep so you wouldn't wake up even if there's a commotion just a few rooms away from yours." Myungsoo tried to chuckle, but he repressed it when he saw Sunggyu's face void with any expression. It wasn't the time to joke around, but it wouldn't hurt to try, right? After a few seconds of nothing from Sunggyu, Myungsoo sighed and started explaining.

"We figured you had your own problems as well...even Dongwoo doesn't want you to know." Sunggyu wanted to say something, anything, but he can't find the right words to say. Instead he wallows in the sound of the slowly dying sobs and cries and soon he realizes that the mug in his hands lost its warmth. Sunggyu knew he would feel unsafe and unprotected and unassured once again, but somehow he doesn't. He contemplated on making another cup of the scalding hot drink, but he found himself numb and rooted on his place. It had been the longest minute of his life, with only the sound of Dongwoo's agony partnered by the sound of the falling rain that was now accompanied by a few thunders and lightning clouding his senses. And amidst the inner turmoil brewing inside Sunggyu, a small glimmer of light shone in the recesses of his mind.

He felt protected and safe and assured, not only because of Woohyun but because of everyone. They knew he had his own problems to face, being the oldest among them and taking charge of everything and everyone, and they felt as though it would just add up to the burden he already has if he knew about this. He didn't know whether he would feel grateful or guilty.

Maybe he is indeed lucky. Lucky to have these people as his friends. As his family.

"You know, I never knew how you end up in that hell hole, you and Woohyun were already there the moment I stepped inside the school." Sunggyu blinked the sudden change of topic waking his up from his train of thoughts and he found himself smiling sadly while diverting his gaze in front of him. Suddenly, he took notice on how interesting those droplets roll down the windowpane, as if the glass was shedding tears for them. He didn't even notice that Dongwoo's sobs already died down and they were back to listening to the rhythm set by the droplets of rain. 

"Me? I don't really remember anything. I woke up one day with a throbbing head, bruises and cuts on my skin and a body wrapped up in bandages without knowing what happened. All I remember is my name. Nurse Park said I suffered amnesia triggered by traumatic experiences. He said I witnessed how my parents were brutally murdered and I was beaten up badly and left to die. Sometimes, I wish I would have remembered just how my parents looked like. Or even their names at least." Myungsoo chuckled, but the humor wasn't present. And the older knew he shouldn't push his luck and prod what's on the younger's mind unless he opens up willingly.

"You know...I envy you." 

"What?"

"Never mind. Sometimes it's still a wonder to me that the person who led us out of the school with his brilliant plan and the person sitting next to me is the same person." Myungsoo said with a chuckle and Sunggyu found himself chuckling along.

"Sometimes, I wonder about that as well."

* * *

_"Mommy..." Little Woohyun wobbled towards a woman whose face he can't seem to make out. It was too far for his young eyes to make out the blurry features of the woman, yet all he knew was that the woman was smiling at him with her arms outstretched and waiting to hug him. Everything was too colorful, and it made young Woohyun feel happy and elated and excited and hyper._

_"Woohyun dear, mommy's here..." Woohyun smiled and forced his tiny and pudgy feet to walk faster, but whenever he would take a step the woman he claims as his mommy would suddenly become farther than she was before. With every step he took, it seemed like a color vanishes and it disturbed the young boy. It made him feel sad and down little by little. Woohyun fought the tears forming on his eyes and started walking faster, his small arms stretched while calling out for the woman who seemed to get farther and farther from him._

_Somewhere in the middle of his running, his fat tears started falling on his chubby cheeks, successfully obscuring his vision. He found himself in the middle of darkness, calling out for his mama again. All the wonderful colors and the laughter and bubbles and butterflies and rainbows were gone, making him cry harder. He felt scared and he wanted his mama's hug and tell him she's there. But he just couldn't reach her no matter how hard he tried. It was as if she was close but it still felt too far for him. And in the midst of his running, his tiny limbs had somehow tangled together and he landed on the ground painfully with his voice hoarse from calling his mama._

_"Mommy, don't leave me please!"_

_"Woohyun baby...I'm over here..."_

_"Mommy!"_

_"Mommy's here, Woohyun..."_

_The serene voice seemed to get softer and it was getting hard to understand her. Woohyun looked up to see the woman slowly disappearing from his vision and the young boy raised his pudgy arms but it didn't do anything to reach her._

_"Mommy!"_

 

The sound of something shattering immediately woke Woohyun from his short yet restless slumber. However short it may be, he found himself sweating profusely and his heart beating erratically. The rain seemed to have gotten stronger in the short span of time that he had fallen asleep, and the rhythm that it made along with Dongwoo's cries from the other room wasn't a good combination.  It's one of those nights again and Woohyun sighed.

It had been far too long since he had dreamt about someone from his past. Someone who was present in his life even before he got trapped in the school for more than half of his life. And frankly speaking, he would have preferred dreaming about the people he had killed before; he didn't mind if they haunt his dreams with all the blood and gore present, he didn't mind if they seek vengeance for getting killed because Woohyun knows how to deal with those kinds of dreams. That the moment he opens his eyes it's all over and they're not real and they're not coming back again. But whenever he dreams of her, it leaves a painful feeling, far more painful than what he feels whenever he would have those violent dreams. The feeling that somehow maybe she's still looking for him horrifies him and even if Woohyun opens his eyes after the dream, he knows she's real, and that it's not over and she might come back in his life. And even though he badly wants her to come back in his life, he's scared. He's scared that she wouldn't accept what he had become.

It only made him feel hope, the one word he learned how to forget after spending his life in that hell of a school. And he could say that the definition of hope has changed over the course of time. Hope is for people who are scared of accepting the reality shoved to them by life. Hope is for people who are desperately clinging on to something that would never happen. And for Woohyun, he doesn’t need a false feeling of assurance that everything is alright when it isn’t.

That, or maybe he’s just scared of being disappointed after hoping for so long. 

He rolled onto his side, seeking for the warm and squishy body always lying next to him, yes squishy but he wouldn't say that out loud to someone who spent their childhood years killing people. But when his hand only met the cold sheets of the bed, he suddenly shot up. It had been almost an hour since Sunggyu got up to go to the bathroom. Surely it wouldn't take too long to have a quick splash on his face, would it?

Without bothering to grab a shirt, he started walking out of the room with the sole intention of seeking for his fluffy hamster but the absence of Dongwoo's cries made Woohyun change his mind. Besides, Dongwoo's room is near the bathroom anyway, so he might as well check on Dongwoo before checking on Sunggyu. He trudged towards the blue haired boy's room, peeking a bit and sighed when he saw a few broken glasses on the floor, ripped blankets scattered around and the curtains skewed on the window. It looks like he's gonna be on cleaning duties again when morning comes. Though a small sad smile made its way to his lips when he saw Dongwoo curled up on the bed, clutching a pillow.

At least Dongwoo handles those dreams a bit better now compared to a few nights when he's endlessly thrashing around the room until the sun rises.

He slowly closed the door and was about to go his way to the bathroom when his ears caught faint voices and chuckles coming from the other direction. He quickly glanced over his shoulders and saw the light from the kitchen still turned on. His feet moved on its own and soon he found himself standing in front of the door with Sunggyu and Myungsoo chuckling, both unaware of his presence. Woohyun thought something must have possessed him at that moment. He should have been angry, jealous, possessive over Sunggyu because fuck, he's sharing a laugh with Kim Myungsoo who he had always considered his rival in everything. But those feelings never came, instead he felt the corners of his lips curving up, because he knew himself that it was too rare to see a genuine laugh coming from those two.

The sight made him feel light as well.

He leaned on the door frame, his arms folded across his bare chest before he called out to the still oblivious occupants of the room.

"So, this is what's taking you so long... I was worried about you, you know." The laughter soon died and both Sunggyu and Myungsoo wore surprised expressions and it made Woohyun chuckle. It was priceless to actually catch both of them off guard, as if they were doing something bad.

Well, they aren't, are they?

“H-hey…sorry. Did I wake you up?” Sunggyu muttered while Woohyun sauntered towards him before leaning forward and kissing the older’s forehead, earning a cough from Myungsoo but it went unnoticed for Woohyun. 

“No. But you could have at least told me you wanted some coffee…you know I would definitely make you one even if it's two in the morning.” Sunggyu rolled his eyes, yet his lips seemed to have a mind of their own and gave in on releasing a smile.

"Jesus Christ, Woohyun, can't you walk around with at least a fucking shirt?" Myungsoo whined, making Woohyun smirk and shrug nonchalantly. Woohyun was about to retort a smart assed comment when Sunggyu interrupted him.

“Well, Myungsoo and I talked about…things…”

“What things?”

“Like love.”  Myungsoo piped up and Woohyun felt like he didn’t liked where the conversation was heading.

“Love? Why would you talk about love?”

“Well, you see, Sunggyu here was asking if…” Woohyun stared at Myungsoo who was smirking, and frankly Woohyun doesn’t like it when that smirk appears on Myungsoo’s face. He started to feel suspicious suddenly, and as he was about to demand the younger to continue, he felt Sunggyu’s fingers tracing mindless patterns on his cold skin. He glanced over Sunggyu who sent a glare at Myungsoo before looking at him with a small smile.

Sunggyu will someday be the death of him. Twice, if you consider him getting killed when Sunggyu did that stunt on him the night of their escape.

“Well, why don’t you be a darling, Myungsoo and get us another round of coffee. I’m sure Woohyun would like one too, now hurry along Myungsoo.” Woohyun had to repress the chuckle bubbling on his insides as he watched Sunggyu ordering Myungsoo who was still wearing the smirk but nonetheless obliged to the older’s demands. There was definitely something interesting that happened before he came and Woohyun wanted to know. He took a seat on the chair across Sunggyu and reached for his hand.

“Now, really, what did you two talked about? I swear I won’t laugh.” Woohyun asked in a softer voice, making sure that only Sunggyu could hear him. Sunggyu sighed and looked away from him, his lower lip trapped between his teeth and Woohyun had to repress the urge to squeal because Nam Woohyun doesn’t squeal. Ever.

“I…We were talking about…”

“We were talking about how we ended up at school. Sunggyu told me you were one of the firsts in our batch to attend the school.” Myungsoo suddenly appeared and it irritated Woohyun a bit on the younger’s timing. Was he still holding onto that time that he interrupted his supposed sex with Sungyeol back at school? Because, really, they already had enough sex to last for a lifetime for the past month and Woohyun had no say on it. He cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Sunggyu questioningly, and the older just nodded, albeit too vigorously in Woohyun’s opinion.

“Yeah, and so?”

“Sunggyu and I were curious how you ended up in that school. Because I’m sure you perfectly know how we ended up attending the school.” Myungsoo said and Woohyun continued staring at Myungsoo who was still grinning like the cat that got the canary.

“But, I don’t know how you ended up in the school as well, Myungsoo…I woke up one day and then there’s a new kid who took the empty seat on the corner behind Hyorin.” Sunggyu muttered, and Woohyun saw how Myungsoo stiffened. Indeed, Woohyun knew how Myungsoo and Sunggyu ended up at that school. And as much as Woohyun wanted to tell Sunggyu how the other got trapped in that hell, he felt that it wasn’t his story to tell. Even if Woohyun wanted to avoid the topic, he felt as though his story is more bearable compared to Myungsoo’s. So, before Sunggyu could make Myungsoo feel more uncomfortable, Woohyun took the chance to grab the hamster’s attention.

“Well…as far as I can remember, I was playing on the park when a group of men kidnapped me. They asked for a ransom from my family but they never returned me." Woohyun started, watching the others' expressions carefully before he continued.

"The kidnappers sold me to the black market and I was bought by a bitchy woman. Then she forced me to work on a dingy brothel on the red district where I spent almost a year scrubbing dirty bathroom tiles and washing dishes."

"Well at least you weren't used as a prostitute." Myungsoo said, earning a chuckle from Woohyun.

"Well, almost. I was about to be auctioned to horny old men when the place was somehow raided by the authorities and we were 'rescued' from the place. Turns out we're only headed to a worse place compared to the brothel. Sometimes I thought maybe it was better if I was auctioned that night."

"If you were, then you wouldn't have met Sunggyu hyung, would you?" Woohyun chuckled along with Myungsoo as Sunggyu glared at Myungsoo with those little eyes of his.

"Maybe you're right."

"But...were there already students when you got to the school?" Sunggyu muttered, fighting the blush forming on his cheeks while trying to change the topic.

"Kinda, I think there were three or four students already in our batch.” Woohyun said, ignoring the horror and pain that suddenly jolted in his system. He thought he had moved on from the feeling whenever he would recall what happened when he was young. He guessed it can't be help anymore. "So that's it."

"Wait. Let me get this straight, did you just say you were kidnapped?" Myungsoo muttered, now leaning on the table with an interested look on his features. Sunggyu also had his head tilted with his brows furrowed.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, doesn't that mean your parents are still alive?" Woohyun swallowed and was about to answer when Myungsoo suddenly butted in, voice a bit raised in what seemed like excitement.

"Moreover, kidnappers only target kids from rich families, right?" Woohyun raised an eyebrow at Myungsoo who seemed too eager after hearing his story.

"Where the fuck did you get that idea?"

"Where were you when we were having Tactics class? It's always the strategy of the kidnappers, stupid."

"I'm probably spending time on detention room." Woohyun said with a shrug, trying to push down an unfamiliar feeling bubbling inside him. "So, what are you trying to say now?"

"It means you must be a kid from a filthy rich family!" Myungsoo said, his arms flailing in emphasis.

"I... I don't think so." Woohyun whispered, his mind clouded with thoughts and possibilities based on Myungsoo's conclusion. He could hear Myungsoo blabbering about money and riches and power but he couldn't focus on it. What if he's really a son of a rich couple? If so, why didn't they look for him? Do they even care that he's still alive? Would he even want to come back to a life he's supposed to have? And amidst the inner storm inside Woohyun's already fucked up brain, a hand reached out and squeezed his own hand, waking him up from his thoughts.

Woohyun looked up to a smiling Sunggyu and he found himself suddenly having answers to all his questions.

"Are you okay?"

It wouldn't matter, because he's sure he has found his home.

"Yeah. Never been better."

And it's beside Sunggyu, no matter how cheesy it might sound.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Sunggyu said, and only then did he noticed that Myungsoo already stopped talking nonsense and was now focused on him.

"It's not like I remember their names anyway. I can't even remember my mom's face anymore. It'll just be troublesome and who knows, maybe they've given up looking for me anyway."

 _And besides I already found my real family anyway._ _It's not like I'll exchange it for a vault full of gold bars and bank accounts with numerous zeros on it._

Silence ensued for a bit longer, with only the sound of the occasional sips from the mug. But the three didn't mind, especially Woohyun who has Sunggyu's hand atop his.

"Hey, wait a second, you said 'we' earlier, didn't you?" Myungsoo had yet to interrupt the moment with his insignificant question. Both turned to him with confusion etched on their features.

"What do you mean we?" Woohyun asked, his temper a bit rising as Myungsoo looked at him as if he was stupid.

"You said 'we were rescued' earlier. Does that mean there were lots of kids from the brothel that was brought to the school?"

Another surge of pained nostalgia hit him. He had almost forgotten that memory that he had buried in the recesses of his mind.

"Yeah...I think there were quite a number, but there were only two of us of the same age..." 

"Really? Who was it? Was it that girl...what's his name...ah, Hyuna? Cause he acted like he came from a brothel, letting people grope her in her private parts in front of lots of viewers." Myungsoo said before taking a sip on his mug while Woohyun chuckled at the memory of their girl classmate who seemed like she would let herself get fucked with anything that has two legs. "It was disgusting really."

"No it's not her...it's...someone you two didn't really meet..."

"Oh..." A tensed silence floated in the air. Woohyun could feel the curiosity obviously reeking out from the two although they weren't saying anything. Well, it's not like it would hurt to finally share something he buried inside his mind for a long time, right? Woohyun took a deep breath that effectively caught the attention of the other occupants of the room.

"He was a bubbly kid, you know. He's the first and only friend I had back in the brothel. He was always the one who would tell me how it's gonna be another new day tomorrow and that it's all going to be fine. He always had this positive outlook in life and would laugh at even the most nonsensical things. At first I was really irritated at him, but then I came to realize that he's right. That there's no point in wallowing on negative thoughts when you're already on the negative side of life. It would only continue to pull you down deeper and closer to failure. But one day..." Woohyun took a deep breath, somehow the burden slowly lifting but the heaviest one still hasn't been carried off from his shoulders. He felt a squeeze on his hand and somehow he felt a bit strong again.

"One day, the instructor had gotten fed up on him being all smiley and optimistic, so he just shot him square on the head while we're in gym class. I can still remember the shock and horror present from all of our faces. Funny though, I witnessed it first hand since he was standing right in front of me. He was actually the first one to get killed from our batch." Woohyun breathed out, and somehow he felt a bit lighter inside after telling the story. He should have done it a long time ago, but the problem was he didn't really bother making friends after what happened to his first and only friend back then.

And besides, no one among his friends even knew the name of that kid anyway. 

Nobody bothered to talk afterwards, because neither had any clue what to say to Woohyun. Honestly the clichéd 'I'm sorry' and 'it's gonna be alright' don't work for them anyway. Woohyun took another deep breath and was somehow a bit startled when he looked at the window.

"Well, will you look at that. Seems like the thunderstorm has ended."

And indeed, the storm ended for Woohyun. It's gonna be a new day for him and somehow he felt that this time, everything's really going to be alright.

* * *

"Well, I think we better call it a night." Myungsoo said, slowly standing from his chair and avoiding looking at Woohyun and Sunggyu who still had their hands linked. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the excessive display of affection from his friends and started gathering the mugs on the table. "I got this, have a good sleep you two."

Myungsoo didn't bother listening to what they said, instead he busied himself with washing the mugs until he had them squeaky clean and free from caffeine. He heaved a sigh and took a few moments on calming his nerves while he leaned on the sink. It was all too much for him, seeing how Woohyun and Sunggyu look at each other lovingly. And even though Sunggyu admitted that he doesn't know what love is nor has he felt it, Myungsoo know in a short amount of time he will, judging from the looks and actions that the eldest is unconsciously doing now.

Or maybe Sunggyu is already in love, he just doesn't know it yet.

Another sigh escaped from him and Myungsoo repressed the feeling of wanting to smash his fists on something. Don't get him wrong, he's happy Woohyun and Sunggyu are happy with each other but seeing them like that made him feel sick and scared at the same time. Could they really be in love in a short span of time that they spent with their true selves?

Love was a scary mystery indeed, and Myungsoo didn't want to deal with it.

Myungsoo finally dragged himself towards his room, their room, quietly getting in so he wouldn't disrupt the other occupant. A smile formed on his lips when his eyes saw the figure still on the same position on the bed when he had left a few hours ago. The figure was still naked, the sheets barely covering his private parts while his hair still tousled in a sexy way that Myungsoo wanted to ran his fingers through them again.

Before he could stop himself, Myungsoo took off his shirt and threw it carelessly on the ground, his boxers following suit and soon he carefully settled on the bed. He placed himself atop of the snoozing guy and mindful of his weight, he started planting kisses on the other's jaw going down to the neck before settling on the shoulder and added another hickey on the already bruised flesh.

"Mmm...Myung...I'm still sore..." The voice was raspy and hoarse from sleep, and it only made Myungsoo harder. His hips started humping the blanketed ass of the other person before letting out a grunt.

"Can't help it, Yeol. How am I supposed to ignore you when you're all splayed and naked on the bed waiting to be ravished?" Myungsoo dove in for a frantic kiss, his tongue tasting every inch of the cavern of Sungyeol's mouth before ripping the sheets off of the latter. He didn't even bother to prepare Sungyeol as he slid his shaft inside his slowly yet a bit hard.

And besides, it's not like Sungyeol couldn't take his length after a few rounds of sex earlier.

As soon as Sungyeol moaned and writhed, Myungsoo began moving. The pace was hurried, frantic and aggressive. No foreplay this time with only hands leaving bruising marks. They hadn't even changed their position as Myungsoo fucks Sungyeol from behind with all his weight resting on the taller man beneath him. And with a few more thrusts, Myungsoo came hard with a loud grunt, his lover following soon. After getting over the post orgasm high, Myungsoo pulled out slowly and plopped beside the sweaty yet sated lad on the bed. Both were quiet, except for the breaths and pants they released and it seemed to stretch on forever. Clearly, something's wrong because Myungsoo is relatively talkative after having sex. 

"Tell me what's going on in that sadistic mind of yours, handsome." Myungsoo chuckled at the pet name but he remained quiet, his hand reaching over the side table and grabbing the half empty packet of cigarettes. He sat up slightly as he put on a stick on his mouth while his hand reached for the lighter and lit up the stick. Puffs of smoke soon filtered the room but Myungsoo still evaded the question and he was thankful Sungyeol was patient enough.

"You know, I've always hated smoking."

"Then why are you doing it now?" Myungsoo chuckled before taking a long drag and watching the smoke come out of his mouth.

"I don't know. Maybe it runs in the family." A soft chuckle emanated from Sungyeol before he took the stick from Myungsoo and stubbed it on the ashtray nearby. Then he leaned over Myungsoo, his chin resting on Myungsoo's sweaty chest as he looked at him squarely.

"We both know that's not true."

"It is. I'm becoming like her, aren't I? My father used to say I look exactly like her, and though I try so hard not to, I'm becoming like her." Myungsoo said with a snicker, yet he wasn't feeling any humor as he did so. His fists unconsciously clench and he could feel his blood boiling. "Sooner or later I'll become a drug addict just like how she was one."

"You won't be."

"How would you know?"

"Please, not this conversation again, Myungsoo." Myungsoo could hear the pleading in his voice but he continued still.

"But I'm telling the truth, Sungyeol. I'm starting to finish one packet of cigarette within an hour."

"Because it's your way of relieving stress."

"I'm becoming a sex addict...sooner or later I'll become a prostitute like her. Hey, maybe I could help Sunggyu hyung with the expenses if I did become one." Myungsoo let out a sarcastic chuckle and soon he heard Sungyeol let out an impatient sigh before he sat up and faced him.

"If you are one, you would have fucked each and everyone in this house. As far as I know, I'm the only one you're fucking each and every time you're horny, right? Don't you fucking dare think lowly of yourself, Myungsoo. Just because you're a son of a drug addict and alcoholic prostitute doesn't mean you'll end up like one." Sungyeol sighed as his eyes met with Myungsoo's seemingly empty ones. They both held each other's stare before Myungsoo broke the stare with a snide.

"You know, I never understood why father put up with everything he did. Even went as far as to stay with her and attend to all her drunken whims and whines and turn a blind eye when he brings home guys."

"Guess he must have really loved her."

"And it's scary, how a person could be so desperate because of love. Look at how my father resorted to selling me just so he could buy joints for her." The statement left a bitter taste on Myungsoo's mouth as he recalled how he called his father while he was being dragged by men. He looked at Sungyeol, expecting pity just like how everyone else looks at him when he tells his story but he found none. Sungyeol's stare was a familiar and it scares Myungsoo a bit.

It was like how his father would look at his mother.

"You know, I was having a conversation with Sunggyu hyung earlier." Sungyeol then resumed his place, his head leaning against Myungsoo's chest while his fingers traced lazy patterns on the slightly sticky yet smooth skin. A hum resonated from his, urging Myungsoo to continue. "He was asking me if I knew anything about love."

Myungsoo felt himself involuntarily smiling when he heard Sungyeol chuckle. He felt the mop of hair tickling the side of his jaw and somehow he felt like he is where he ought to be, he was just scared of admitting and accepting it.

"And what did you say?"

"I told him he asked the wrong person, and it's Woohyun he should be asking about those matters." His grin seemed to grow wider when Sungyeol's chuckles become louder than it was earlier. "You should have seen Sunggyu hyung blushing like a tomato earlier."

The conversation ended after the chuckles died down, and Myungsoo didn't know how to remove the awkwardness that was enveloping them at the moment.

"Does love really do that to people?"

"Do what?"

"Turn people desperate and single minded just so they could please their loved ones. I've seen it, you know. My father and Woohyun, why do they have to do unnecessary things just to satisfy their lovers?" Myungsoo felt Sungyeol sigh and wrap his arms around him.

"Because when you're in love, you would do anything just to see the person you love the most smile."

"At the expense of your own or other's life?" Myungsoo thought he won the argument when Sungyeol remained quiet. He was about to retort once more when Sungyeol suddenly talked.

"Love needs too many sacrifices."

"Then it's stupid. Sacrificing your own happiness just so you could see your another person smile? It's complicated to even understand the logic of it."

"You don't need to understand love. You just feel it."

Silence.

"Then I don't want to feel it." Myungsoo closed his eyes and draped an arm across it, as if escaping the conversation and reality haunting him.

"Why?"

"I'm scared, Sungyeol. I don't want to be like my father. What if I get too blinded just like him? He was a great man. He deserved someone much much better than my mother, yet he chose to live his life miserably by staying with her when it's obvious that she's just using him." The arms around his torso tighten and it made his heart beat just a little faster, and it's scaring Myungsoo again.

"You won't be...trust me."

"How would you know?" Myungsoo sighed and tried to shrug off Sungyeol but the hold on him just tighten. He opened his eyes and locked onto Sungyeol's and it made him warm and calm inside.

Fuck.

"I just know, Myungsoo." Myungsoo scoffed and shook his head.

"See? Even I don't understand you anymore." Myungsoo finally shrugged Sungyeol off of him before turning on his side, his back facing a shocked Sungyeol. He could hear Sungyeol's breath hitch followed by the rustling of the blanket before the bed dipped. The silence filling the room was too thick with tension and even if Myungsoo wanted it to be gone, he couldn't do anything. Or rather, he didn't want to do anything.

He heard the rustle of the blankets once more before he felt Sungyeol cuddling against his side, making Myungsoo sigh and face the other.

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I understand."

"Sungyeol... I can't... I don't want to–" 

"I told you it's ok...don't worry, I'll wait for you." Myungsoo looked down at Sungyeol who was smiling at him, and soon he found the corners of his mouth lifting. He wrapped his arms around Sungyeol and pull him closer before kissing his temple. It's the least he could do anyway.

And at that moment, Myungsoo realized that somehow he's lucky, just as lucky as Sunggyu for having someone like Sungyeol.

* * *

Silence filled the room as soon as the door closed. Both Woohyun and Sunggyu wordlessly took their positions on the bed, sides slightly pressed within each other. The sound of their calm breathing bounced on the walls, and it took a few more minutes before Sunggyu cracked an eye open and glanced over the man beside his who had his eyes closed and chest rising up and down on a slow rhythm. The older of the two quietly shifted and lied by his side, watching the younger sleep peacefully.

"Something's really up." Sunggyu almost jumped when Woohyun suddenly spoke. He felt his cheeks heat up, though he didn't know if it's because he was caught staring or because Woohyun opened his eyes and faced his with a smile. Maybe it's both. "Tell me?"

Sunggyu bit his lower lip and looked down while fiddling one of the strings of Woohyun's sweatpants. He could feel the other's eyes staring at him but he refused to embarrass himself by looking up once more. He couldn't trust his hazy mind to even work up the courage to speak out what's bothering his anyway.

"Sunggyu, you do know what your actions are implying, right?" A darker shade of red took place on his cheeks as Woohyun chuckled softly. He quickly let go of the string and was about to keep his hand on his side when Woohyun took it and entwined their fingers together. He let out a sigh before he finally looked at Woohyun.

"Woohyun, have you ever had...nightmares?" Out of all the reactions Sunggyu expected from Woohyun, confusion isn't one of them. The younger had his brows furrowed in a confused way as he stared at the ceiling.

"What's a nightmare?" Sunggyu blinked, thinking Woohyun's playing with him. He was about to glare at the younger, cheeks ready to puff out when he saw Woohyun's face waiting for an explanation.

What the hell, is this guy for real?

"A nightmare...is a bad dream."

"Well, aren't all dreams supposed to be bad?" Sunggyu slightly sat up and looked at Woohyun as if he had grown another head. "What?"

"You mean to say you haven't dreamt of anything good?"

"Not that I could remember any...why are you asking me though?" Sunggyu remained silent and shook his head. And here he thought he had the worst dreams for the past two days, but judging from what he had learned tonight about Myungsoo and Dongwoo and Woohyun, his dreams looked quite pathetic and it only made him feel selfish that he thinks he's the only one suffering.

"Did you had a...so called nightmare?" Woohyun called out, squeezing Sunggyu's hand gently and earning a nod from the latter.

"Just recently though."

"And what's the problem then?" Sunggyu glanced over Woohyun with a skeptic look. Is he really the right person to talk about this kind of stuff?

"I just feel...horrible. Having to kill them just so I could live..."

Silence ensued between them and as the seconds tick by, Sunggyu is slowly regretting his decision to tell Woohyun about his regrets when the guy in front of him was a former cold blooded killing machine. The older of the two was about to sigh when suddenly Woohyun started to talk.

"You know, if you dwell too much on those dreams it would really get to you and drive you insane." Sunggyu looked up, his mind blank and at loss for words to tell Woohyun. Luckily the latter continued. "I think...dreams are made by our subconscious if you think of something too much or if you desire something that bad. I experience having dreams when I think of the battles I've experienced or when I think of my...supposedly family."

"Then how do you stop these dreams?" Sunggyu felt his cheeks heat up when he felt Woohyun's arms wrap themselves around him and pull him closer.

"Simple. Stop thinking about those things because it's all in the past and there's nothing you can do to change that. Oh, and focus more on the present because it's what you have right now." Sunggyu smiled and found himself burying his face on Woohyun's warm chest. Woohyun is right. He should focus and treasure what he has right now.

Oh, and Myungsoo is right as well. Sunggyu might not know what love feels like but if it's anything like the way he feels protected and safe and assured while he is enveloped in Woohyun's strong arms, then Woohyun really knows what is love and how to express it.

"Sweet dreams, Sunggyu..." Sunggyu smiled and cuddled closer to Woohyun. Never had he felt so happy to hear those words again.

"Sweet dreams, Woohyun."

* * *


	7. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snow is always seen as the white blanket that covers the ground and its color attracts the people and gives them a calming effect.
> 
> But it wasn't the case with Dongwoo.
> 
> Because instead of seeing the usual light grayish hue that is blended with the pure white color, what Dongwoo sees is the crimson red splattered on the white frozen water.

Snow. It was one of the things that Dongwoo hated along with ghosts. It was supposed to be something that kids love because it gives them another reason to play outside with their friends. Snow is always seen as the white blanket that covers the ground and its color attracts the people and gives them a calming effect. But it wasn’t the case with Dongwoo. While kids enjoy making snow angels and snowmen and throwing snow balls at each other, Dongwoo on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the white cold stuff. If anything, his nightmares started on the night the snow first fell when he was 8 years old.

Don’t get him wrong, he once loved playing on the snow with his step brother and sometimes with his parents, but it all changed on that fateful night. Instead of seeing the usual light grayish hue that is blended with the pure white color, what Dongwoo sees is the crimson red splattered on the white frozen water. Instead of hearing the gleeful screams and laughs of the children playing, what Dongwoo hears is the ear shattering shrieks of his parents followed by the loud echoes of the gunshots. The image of the white snow was forever tainted in the mind of Dongwoo and no matter how much he wanted to change it, he just can’t.

The happiness once brought by the snow changed into dread and fright.

It’s not that he’s scared with the snow. He’s scared of the nightmares that haunt him whenever it’s snowing. Even though it had already been 8 months since they escaped the school, his nightmares never stopped though it toned down a little. And though Hoya and the others won’t admit, Dongwoo knew he is more difficult to calm down after his dreams whenever the snow is falling.

That’s exactly why Dongwoo didn’t want to sleep that night. It was already close to midnight and his eyes were already drooping but he resisted the urge to sleep. He didn’t want another repeat of what happened last night where almost everyone sans Sunggyu, Sungyeol and Sungjong were there to restrain him through his hallucinations, and he almost hurt not only himself but everyone who was restraining him. He feels like he’s a burden, because hell, even Sunggyu got over his episodes of nightmares already. Everyone else does, and though all of them were still plagued by nightmares every so often, it wasn’t as often as Dongwoo’s and they were all relatively calm compared to how Dongwoo is after waking up.

The creak of the door disrupted Dongwoo's inner storm and he looked up just as Hoya's head peeked on the small crack he just made.

"Hey hyung...why are you still awake?"

"Why are you checking on me?" Dongwoo chuckled as he motioned for Hoya to enter. The younger did and he quietly sauntered towards Dongwoo and sat beside him on the floor.

"Nambitch is throwing a fit again, trying to act like a good leader by commanding others to do all his whims. I guess all the sexual frustrations already getting to him. And Myungsoo and Sungyeol aren't helping either." Hoya muttered, earning another round of chuckles from Dongwoo. But the chuckles soon died down and they were basked in a comfortable silence.

"I'm sorry...about last night..." Dongwoo whispered as his eyes ghost over the patch of purple bruises and angry red scratches on Hoya's arm, though as soon as the younger felt Dongwoo's eyes on his injuries he quickly covered it up and forced a smile on his face.

"It's nothing, hyung. We all have our...episodes after nightmares. Sungjong for example, continues to cry like the kid he really is even after he had gained his wits and consciousness after a nightmare. The only thing that would make him calm would be that lemon candy he's getting fond of recently, and Sungyeol channels all the adrenalin from his nightmare in engaging a round of aggressive sex with Myungsoo." A smile round up Dongwoo's lips, and even if the scenarios were quite funny, it left a pang of guilt on Dongwoo because, hell, how can his dongsaengs find something to calm them down after a nightmare when he can't?

"But really, hyung, why are you still up?"

The question hung on the air and Dongwoo could feel the younger's silence meant he was waiting for him to answer, and Dongwoo instead chose to answer it by throwing another question.

"Hoya, have you ever played on the snow before?" The older muttered, his eyes glued on the frosted window in front of them. He could hear Hoya shift beside him, the uneasiness and confusion evident from him. For a second, the older thought his question would remained unanswered, but a hesitant reply echoed a few seconds earlier.

"Yeah, a few times I guess."

"That's great..." Another wave of silence echoed and Dongwoo could tell Hoya wanted to ask questions but is quite hesitant. Somehow, Dongwoo already has an idea of what Hoya will ask, and he didn't know whether he should encourage the boy or not. Before he could change the topic though, Hoya finally chose to blurt out his not so much anticipated question.

"Is the snow somehow connected to your...nightmares?" A pained chuckle errupted from Dongwoo and he knew the chuckle was enough to relay his answer to the younger. Regret started to fill up Dongwoo's senses and he wished he shouldn't have had opened up the topic. Now, he knows there's no escaping, not when Hoya was curious. When he showed no signs of answering, Hoya decided to pick up from where the conversation was left hanging.

"You know, Nambitch told me something before. Dreams are formed by our subconscious when you think of something too much or when you desire something that bad." Hoya paused, as if testing the waters before he continued. "That hyung is something, sometimes he's this insufferable greasy lovedrunk driven and fueled by hormonal urges but can't even make a move on Sunggyu hyung then suddenly he turns 360 degrees and transforms into this wise hyung that gives advices and consoles his dongsaengs with his wise words."

"I think he's bipolar." Dongwoo chuckled softly and he was relieved to hear Hoya follow his lead.

"I think he has multiple personality disorders." After the chuckles died down, Dongwoo felt as if he owes Hoya answers, and answers he will give.

"My parents were killed at the night of the first snow fall ten years ago." A tensed silence enveloped the room, and Dongwoo took it as an invitation to continue his story.

"My real parents were separated, and I never met my real father. It had always been just my mother and I, then my mom decided to get married to this guy I now look up to as my real dad. He has a son just a few months older than me, and we kind of hit it off the first time we met."

"Who wouldn't hit it off with you the first time they met you?" Dongwoo didn't know whether he would be flattered or not, but he let the statement slide off by avoiding the younger's stare and lock his gaze on the snow falling outside.

"One night, the snow started falling and we were all excited cause it's the first snowfall we would be experiencing as a family. We were all gathered outside, and what was supposed to be a happy family night turned out to be a nightmare that reminded me of our last night together." Dongwoo felt a warm hand on top of his and he found the courage to continue.

"People from one of the agencies catered by the school came to our house and startled all of us. They were quick and precise and in one blink of an eye they had already decapitated my dad even before my mom could even tell us to run." It felt as though Dongwoo was reliving that exact moment ten years ago. Everything came back to him in a rush of waves and he felt the urge to throw something, to hurt himself just so he knows that it's all in his head, but the light squeeze on his hand tore him off of his near-hallucination.

"It's ok if you stop..."

"No. It's ok, I think it's time I let this out anyway..."

"Well...if you say so... But don't say I didn't stop you, I don't wanna deal with Nambitch if...something happens." The chuckle emitted by Hoya was humorless but Dongwoo paid no heed, because Hoya was right. He didn't know whether he could contain himself while telling his story. But there's this nagging feeling inside Dongwoo that urged him to continue, that it would do him better if he continues.

"Hoya, haven't you noticed how the instructors at school always torture me with tougher and dangerous exercises than everyone else?" Dongwoo took a deep breath, his fists unconsciously clenched as if he could hear the sneers from his instructors at the academy. He could feel how Hoya was too tensed beside him, how he's hesitating to answer and how he's weighing his options in his mind.

Typical Hoya.

And being the typical Dongwoo, he continued without waiting for the younger's response, whatever response he has in mind. In reality, Dongwoo would continue anyway despite whatever answer Hoya gives him.

"My parents...my biological parents and my stepfather as well...they all studied in the same school we were trapped in for more than half of our lives. And they were all considered traitors." A chuckle escaped from Dongwoo and it came out much more bitter than he wanted it to be. He didn't even paid attention to his companion anymore. "Funny how all those times my parents didn't want me...us...to suffer the same fate as them, how they protected me from the hell they've been through in their childhood, how they've tried so hard to run away from their past to give us a life far more different than what they had and yet here I am...as skilled as them in the art of killing."

"Well at least you didn't grow up in a world full of lies and illusions." Dongwoo whipped his head towards Hoya who had a bitter smirk on his face while glaring at the window, but before he could ask the younger anything Hoya already masked his emotions and glanced up at him with a concerned look.

"You should sleep, hyung. It's getting late." Hoya blurted out, effectively shocking Dongwoo with his idea.

Doesn't this dongsaeng know that he doesn't want another episode of what happened last night?

"I'm..."

"I'll stay here...watch over you so you won't feel alone." A smile made its way on Dongwoo's lips before he reluctantly nod.

"Alright then."

* * *

Hoya felt Dongwoo shift beside him and he felt his own eyes close as soon as the older stood and went his way up the bed. He let out a deep breath, mentally scolding himself for almost letting his mouth get the better of him. It was foolish and unfair he knows, that Dongwoo told him his dark past while he went tightlipped about his. It's not like the elder was demanding him to tell anything about his past but still...

He felt uncomfortable.

The silence was almost lulling him to sleep and he was almost there when he heard a shuffle beside him before he felt a warmth surrounding his body. His eyes quickly opened only to see Dongwoo beside him again with their bodies sharing a blanket. He tilted his head as Dongwoo's grin got wider.

"Well, it's too cold to sleep alone in the bed." The older said before he placed his head on Hoya's shoulder, making the latter freeze in his position. He glanced over his shoulder stiffly and saw how the little to no distance between the two of them didn't bother the older. It's not like Hoya is bothered by the skinship, it's just that it had been a while that he had this close proximity with Dongwoo.

It had been a while since he had this close proximity with any other person.

Hoya loved to have skinship way back when he was young, throwing hugs and pats and everything that involves the use of his arms. It had been a habit that was hard for Hoya to shake off, but it was gone the moment he set foot on that god damned school.

And it was also gone as soon as he found out the truth about his heritage. Oh the irony of it all, it had also been a snowy and chilly and eerily quiet night just like that night.

It had been a few minutes already and with Dongwoo unmoving and unusually quiet, Hoya thought the older had fallen asleep. How he wished he could fall asleep as well, but no, the warmth from Dongwoo wasn't helping him relax just a tiny bit. His palms felt clammy and sweaty and his shoulder felt stiff with Dongwoo's weight but he tried to endure it.

"Hoya, have you ever built a snowman before?" The question was soft, but it was too sudden that Hoya was caught off guard. He felt Dongwoo shift beside him and soon he was looking at the unusual blank face of his hyung before looking away. He found himself staring longingly at the small pile of snow formed outside and a small almost sad smile appeared on his lips.

"Yeah...with my hyung and younger brother." Hoya should have known the silence that followed would be the calm before the storm, and he should have stopped it while he still could.

But he didn't.

"I guess children from a clan of respected assassins also play in the snow."

Well, that terribly hit a sore spot on Hoya.

"Just cause I came from a family of assassins doesn't mean I didn't have a normal childhood."

_A very normal childhood that's too good to be true._

Hoya spat out with disgust lacing every word on his sentence. He didn't even noticed how Dongwoo was shocked and regretful to have said those words that meant as a light joke, not a meaningful insult.

“I’m sorry…”

“No, I should be the one saying sorry for snapping at you.” Hoya said as he ran a frustrated hand on his tousled hair. And even after the apologies were worded out, it felt as though they weren’t accepted because the tension was still hanging thickly in the air. A few more moments passed and Hoya decided to break the silence just so the tension would lessen.

“So, how come I never saw this step brother of yours?” Oops. It looked like the wrong words came out at the right time and it was perfectly the wrong move to remove the tension in the air. A wry smile appeared on Dongwoo’s face, a clear indication that even if he was trying to feel happy, the feeling of annoyance is more powerful than happiness.  An awkward chuckle escaped Hoya before he heaved out a sigh, thinking of things to escape the tension when Dongwoo suddenly opened his mouth.

“He’s dead. I killed him so I could live and study on that school.”

Hoya thought he’s going to feel relieved if Dongwoo answers, but as soon as the seemingly cold words echoed in the room, the former wished he hadn’t asked the question in the first place. They were buried deeper within the tension that Hoya himself created and being the always awkward teenager never helped him in escaping the pit they were trapped in at the moment.

“He thinks it’s better for me to kill him rather than it is for me to get killed.”

“O-okay?”  The words hung heavily in the air and Hoya just gave up trying to remove the tension enveloping the room.  He sighed resignedly and buried his body deeper in the temporary warmth emanating through the blanket around them. He wasn’t one to judge Dongwoo after all, since the older isn’t the only one who has killed a sibling before. He felt the blanket shift as well and the warmth he was feeling increased along with a weight leaning against him. He’s not that stupid to not know that Dongwoo was half draping himself on him and instead of feeling tensed and frozen, Hoya found it weird that he’s actually quite relaxed.

“How about you? How many siblings did you have?”  The question continuously rang through Hoya’s ears and he didn’t know how to respond. Did he ever felt having a sibling before? Was he even considered a good sibling? He found his mouth opening and uttering words despite his better judgment.

“Real or not?”

“What?”

“Real siblings or fake ones?” Hoya repeated, his voice getting firmer with every word he says and he’s quite amazed how he seemed so calm talking about this part of his past. When all he got was silence, Hoya decided to indulge himself once and tell Dongwoo at least about his so called siblings. With a sarcastic chuckle, he started.

“I had two older sisters and one older brother from my clan. I never really knew anything about them except their names, their weapon preferrences and the way they kill their victims.”

“Sisters? But…I thought…  I think you mentioned you used to play in the snow with your brothers?” A chuckle escaped from Hoya before he turned towards Dongwoo who was sporting a confused look.

“That’s why I was asking you if you were asking about my real siblings or the fake siblings I had.”

“Did you had stepbrothers...?" The confused look on Dongwoo effectively sent a smile on Hoya's lips. He found it cute to see this kind of expression on the older.

Okay, he didn't know where the cute came from.

"Well...if you put it that way...then yes. Apparently, I got lost as a little kid and I ended up with a family living on the outskirts of the country."

"Oh...so the brothers you had..."

"Were from the family that raised me. Long story short, after going home from gathering woods for dinner I found my foster family brutally killed on the house with my real siblings waiting for me while playing with the corpses. It was then that I found out about my real heritage." A scoff went out from Hoya's mouth while he unconsciously clenched his hand so hard it almost bled. "It was then that the wonderful and innocent world I have been living for the past eight years was shattered in an instant. That's when the 4 most gruelling and disturbing years of my life began."

His memories were still vivid as he recalled what happened almost ten years ago, the guilt and fear and regret still as heavy and painful as how he felt it back then. If only he wasn't so slow in gathering firewood then, he should have arrived earlier...

Then what?

It's not like he can defend his family to those cold blooded sibings of his. What can an eight year old kid do against three trained teenager assassins? But still...

Still he could have tried...

Or at least he could have cherished them more when he still had a chance. Because now all he has are 'if onlys' and regrets.

"Do you think maybe...we'll get over this?"

Hoya felt the other shrug beside him, and it made him wonder if there was really a cure for them. They say time heals; but it feels like the wounds are still fresh, the pain is still lingering, the faces of the people they have to kill still haunt them and it seemed like it is impossible to just rely on time to heal them.

It's hopeless, and Hoya thought it must have been better to be just the one who got killed instead of the one killing, maybe then his conscience wouldn't be filled with too much guilt that he couldn't deal with the rest of his life.

But then, wouldn't it make him the coward instead? Choosing the easiest way to just escape the nightmares that kept on haunting them? If it would make Hoya reunite with the family that raised him, then yes, he would choose death rather than be haunted for the rest of his life.

But then again, he perfectly knew his parents would disagree if he chose to kill himself just so he could be with them. Hoya has this feeling that their deaths would be in vain if he chose not to continue the life he obtained through their sacrifices. There's no sense for this hard earned freedom, no sense in killing all those innocent lives. Everything will be in vain.

Except, Hoya found the perfect reason to continue life, to fight the haunting images and to struggle living outside the world he knew because of his stay in that school.

Because he now has a new family, a new set of brothers to look after to and play with.

A family he's sure would never make him feel like he doesn't belong because they perfectly know and understand what he has been through.

"Maybe. But you know what?" Hoya muttered, effectively catching Dongwoo's attention. "We'll get through all of this together. We have a lifetime of freedom to do that anyways."

And with one last glance over the snow covered ground through the window, Hoya knew he earned a family that he's sure won't leave him anytime soon.

* * *

 


End file.
